Bomb attack leaves 15 injured in Istanbul: report

Fifteen people were injured in a bomb attack Tuesday in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul targeting a police minibus, the Anatolia news agency reported, as Turkey was preparing to use a regional summit to ramp up pressure on Israel over the attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla.

The road-side bomb exploded in front of a hospital in the Kucukcekmece district, on the European side of the city straddling the Bosphorus Strait, as the vehicle carrying officers on their way to work was passing.

The injured included both officers and passers-by, the report said.

Tuesday's bomb blast came as Turkey was hosting several leaders for the summit of an Asian security grouping in the city, among them Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Ramping up pressure

Turkey will seek the backing of its Middle Eastern and Asian neighbors at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to step up pressure on Israel over the killing of nine Turks on an aid ship bound for Gaza.

The normally little noted CICA forum has taken on a new importance since the May 31 seizure of the Mavi Marmara as it attempted to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip.

Israel has already rejected a United Nations call for an international inquiry into its seizure of the ship last week, but Turkey, flexing its diplomatic muscle as one of the biggest military and economic powers in the region, is not giving up.

"Whatever steps are necessary will be taken. Israel will have to pay the price for the martyrs, and will pay," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. "We are patient and will continue this process with patience."

Israel, a member of CICA, has sent its consul rather than expose a senior member of its government to the anger of Turkish leaders at the meeting.

Until recently, Turkey had largely avoided getting embroiled in conflicts in its eastern backyard as it pursued its goal of joining the European Union, but Erdogan's strident criticism of Israel has made him a figurehead for those opposed to Israel's embargo of Gaza.

Despite hosting the likes of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a sworn enemy of Israel and the United States, NATO-member Turkey still sees itself as a mediator in regional disputes and a bridge between east and west.

Turkey's pressure

Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged Ahmadinejad on Monday to tell the international community his government was ready to cooperate and solve the dispute over its nuclear program before a looming U.N. Security Council vote to impose tougher sanctions on Tehran.

"This opportunity cannot be lost," a Turkish official quoted Gul as telling the Iranian president. "We have to show the whole world that a diplomatic solution can yield results."

Erdogan is to have a breakfast meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday after meeting the presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Syria on Monday.

For now Turkey is still pressing for an international investigation into the raid, even though Israel has rejected the idea and said it will conduct its own probe.

While Iran's Revolutionary Guards have offered to provide a naval escort to ships attempting to break the blockade, there was little sense among diplomats that Turkey, even with the second biggest army in NATO, had any appetite for military confrontation with Israel.

But Turkish leaders insist there will be consequences.

"If they do not make it right in an acceptable way, we won't forgive Israel," the Turkish official quoted President Gul as telling Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The United States meanwhile questioned the Iranian Red Crescent's decision to send aid ships to Gaza, saying Tehran's intentions toward the Palestinian territory were not "benign."

"I don't think that Iran's intentions vis-a-vis Gaza are benign," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.