Bomb explodes outside HSBC branch in Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Mar 15 (Reuters) A bomb exploded outside a branch of British-based HSBC bank in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, today and one person was injured, security officials said.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels have set off a series of bombs in the mainly Kurdish southeast in recent months in an escalation of violence. Last week three people were killed in an explosion claimed by the PKK as a suicide attack.

Ankara blames the PKK for some 30,000 deaths in the rebels' campaign for an independent Kurdish homeland since 1984.

HSBC was also targeted in attacks in Istanbul in 2003 claimed by al Qaeda.

REUTERS SK RAI0118