Radical Kurd Group Says Ankara Attack 'Only a Beginning'

A radical Kurdish group claimed responsibility Thursday for a bomb attack which killed three people in the center of the Turkish capital Ankara and threatened more.

In an email sent to the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said it carried out Tuesday's attack and warned: "It is only a beginning."

The group threatened to spread violence to urban areas, after a wave of deadly rebel attacks on army and police units in the southeast.

"Everywhere is a target," it said.

The bomb, which went off outside the administration offices of the capital, also injured at least 15 people.

Turkish officials say TAK is a front used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, especially when attacks claim civilian casualties.

The PKK has said TAK is a splinter group outside its control.

TAK claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in November 2010 at Istanbul's busiest spot, Taksim Square, which wounded 15 police officers and 17 civilians.

Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey have recently escalated their attacks on Turkish targets.

Three security officials were killed in two separate attacks in east and southeast Turkey, on Wednesday and Thursday.

The successive assaults come days after Turkey's government threatened to launch a ground assault on PKK camps across the border in northern Iraq.

The Turkish air force has repeatedly bombed PKK targets since August 17. The PKK took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.