Deadly blasts hit Turkey hotels

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Deadly blasts hit Turkey hotels
伊斯坦布尔旅馆发生致命爆炸



(中文大意)

   8月10日凌晨，土耳其最大城市伊斯坦布尔市内旅游区的两个旅馆发生爆炸事件，造成至少二死七伤。另有一宗针对煤气厂的袭击没有成功。

   帕尔斯旅馆的工作人员透露，爆炸发生前约10分钟，曾有一个人打电话说：“在305房间发现炸弹。”有分析人士认为，电话预警是为了吸引人们赶往爆炸现场，造成更多的人员伤亡。目前还没有人宣布对爆炸负责。  

   另外，当天凌晨一点左右，两枚炸弹在伊斯坦布尔市郊区的一个煤气厂发生爆炸，幸运的是没有造成人员伤亡。  

   去年11月，伊斯坦布尔连续发生四次自杀性炸弹袭击，英国驻伊斯坦布尔领事馆、汇丰银行和犹太教堂等目标遭到袭击，造成包括英国领事在内的70多人死亡，数百人受伤。


ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Near-simultaneous explosions have hit two Istanbul hotels, killing one person, and another attack has unsuccessfully targeted gas tanks at a fuel storage depot, Turkish police and company officials said.

The blasts went off about 1:40 a.m. local time Tuesday (10.40 p.m. Monday GMT) at tourist hotels in two separate Istanbul neighborhoods.

Seven people were wounded in the blasts at the hotels, Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah said.

\"It appears to be a terrorist attack,\" Cerrah told Turkish state news agency Anatolia.

The fatality occurred at the Pars Hotel in Istanbul's Laleli district, he said.

Workers at the Pars hotel said they received an anonymous call only 10 minutes before the explosion saying there was a bomb in a room, The Associated Press reports.

\"There was a huge explosion and the glass started shattering,\" said Umut Akgul, who was visiting a friend who works at the hotel.

Akgul said he ran to the back of the hotel and started to help evacuate tourists after the explosion, which ripped off the exterior walls of the top two floors of the hotel.

There were 37 guests at the hotel at the time of the blast, AP reports.

The other explosion occurred at the Holiday Hotel in Sultanahmet.

That three-story hotel was hosting 20 guests at the time of the explosion, officials said.

About the same time, attackers tried to use small explosive devices to detonate large fuel storage tanks at the Demiroren Group facility in Istanbul's Esenyurt neighborhood, company spokesman Tayfun Demiroren said.

The bombs exploded but failed to rupture the fuel tanks, he said. There were no injuries.

Authorities said a fire at the liquefied petroleum gas plant, where cooking gas canisters are filled, was under control, private NTV television reported.

The first bomb went off about an hour before the hotel explosions, while a second one went off at nearly the same time as the attacks on the hotels, Demiroren said.

A string of bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 targeted two synagogues, a British-owned bank and the British consulate.

The blasts killed more than 70 people, including the British consul general, and wounded hundreds.