Bomb explosion wounds sixteen policemen in Turkey

Jerusalem Post ^ | Aug. 1, 2003 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[yonif]

A bomb went off as explosive experts attempted to defuse it, wounding 16 police officers in the Turkish capital on Friday, a top city official said.

The explosion occurred when a bomb expert, wearing no protective gear, opened a bomb packed bag outside a government training center for prosecutors and judges. Many of the policemen injured had gathered to see the bomb being defused.

"Sixteen officers were wounded, two of them are in critical condition," said Ankara Gov. Yahya Gur.

There was no claim of responsibility, said Gur. Militant leftist and Islamist groups are active in Turkey and have carried out bombings in the past.

The policemen arrived at the scene after a previous explosion shattered the windows of the training center. A building security guard who found the bag and suspected it contained explosives, had tossed it out into the garden.

[yonif]

Ping.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #1

They forgot to take their daily dose of Krypton. That is why there were not bomb-proof.:)

[BushCountry]

The explosion occurred when a bomb expert, wearing no protective gear, opened a bomb packed bag outside a government training center for prosecutors and judges. Many of the policemen injured had gathered to see the bomb being defused.

I know that this isn't funny and I pray that everyone survives, but jeez this is stupid. What would make 16 people stand closely around a bomb as it is being defused by a person not wearing protective gear? The "17 Stooges" comes to mind.

[IoCaster]

I saw the video footage of this. Major league DOH!!

[Gumption]

How many Turks does it take to defuse a bomb? 18. Seventeen to defuse the bomb and one to pickup all the body parts.

Turkey, the new Poland.

[Prodigal Son]

Quagmire alert! ;-)

[a_Turk]

If it weren't for STUPID people.. They have such varied effects on our life.

Thanks or the ping.

[aristotleman]

Why is it in our parts of the world, people act unprofessionally all the time?

I was once on a beach in Greece and saw tens of strange vials containing a liquid that had washed up on shore. I called the police and they came to have a look. Instead of securing the area and calling a hazmat team, they proceeded to break the vials and to sniff them!!! Darwinian selection.

So sad, but acting stupid kills you. My condolences to the families involved.

[Veggie Todd]

Darwin Awards to all!!!

[12B]

German TV carried the footage (over and over again). It was pretty bad. Charge looked like it was in the range of 1lb TNT equivalent. There were three of them bent over it, they went down. Others were pretty close but didn't seem to catch any shrapnel so I'm guessing there weren't any nails in it.

Damned stupid of those guys not to wait for a suit. You'd think in the Capital they'd have some trained EOD guys.

[Turk2]

The stupid thing is that they weren't even EOD guys. They were just a crime scene investigation team that were not expecting a second bomb in the same place.