2005 Kuşadası minibus bombing

Kuşadası bus bombing
Location	Kuşadası, Turkey
Date	16 July 2005
Target	Civilian passenger/tourist minibus
Attack type	Bombing
Deaths	5
Injured	14

Kuşadası minibus bombing occurred on July 16, 2005, when a minibus carrying locals and tourists to the town's famous "Ladies Beach" exploded in Kuşadası, Turkey. Five people, four women and one man, were killed in the blast.

The Kurdish group PKK was initially suspected of carrying out the bombing but they denied being involved in the attack. A suspect was arrested in İstanbul on 8 April 2006.

Victims

Casualties included three Turkish nationals: Deniz Tutum (21), a native of Kuşadası on her way to work, Eda Okyay and Ufuk Yücedeniz, both 23 and fiancées on a weekend excursion from İzmir, and two tourists: Helen Bennett (23), of County Durham, England and Tara Whelan (17), of Waterford, Ireland. A total of fourteen people were injured, eight Turks and six British tourists. Seven people, including all but one of the British citizens, had their conditions judged serious enough to be transported to Ege University hospital in İzmir.

Deniz Tutum's funeral in Kuşadası was transformed into a mass gathering of which moving accounts were made. Tara Whelan's funeral in her hometown as well as the aftermath for all concerned was covered with emphasis by the national media in Ireland. A commemoration service was held for Helen Bennett, along with other British bombing victims of 2005, in Southwark Cathedral.

The cases of Helen Bennett and of members of her family, several of whom were wounded in the same attack, were cited as examples during the process that led to the establishment in the United Kingdom in 2007 of a statutory fund through the Red Cross for overseas victims of terrorism; a previously existing scheme managed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority making criminal injuries payments for UK attacks only.

See also

2010 Hakkâri bus attack

References

1. REDIRECT Template:Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)

• The blast came six days after a bombing in the nearby town of Çeşme, which had left at least 20 people injured. Two months earlier, on 30 April, a police officer of Kuşadası, chief superintendent Yaşar Aykaç, had lost his life while he was trying to defuse, unprotected, a bomb placed in a plastic bag in the town square.
• The Tara Whelan who died at Kuşadası should not be confused with the British Telecom engineer of the same name, who died in a telegraph pole accident in Bristol in May 2001 and who made the headlines during the ensuing prosecution brought against her employer by the CWU and the verdict pronounced in 2006.