Kurdish splinter group issues claim for Istanbul bombing

A splinter nationalist group from the Kurdistan Workers' Party has claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide bombing in Istanbul, Turkey, according to the group's statement on its website. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, said the attack, which injured at least 32 people, was "an act of revenge" and carried out by Vedat Acar, who died in the strike.

"We as TAK claim responsibility for the action carried out against the police force of Turkish fascism at Istanbul's Taksim Square on Oct 31, 2010," the statement said. Acar is described a member of the group's command from Van, an eastern border province populated by ethnic Kurds who have signed up with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The PKK has been battling the Turkish government since the early 1980s initially for a separate Kurdish homeland. Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, was labeled a terrorist group by the United States in 2008. It claimed responsibility for the bombing of a bus that carried Turkish military personnel and their families in Istanbul. The attack, which occurred in June, killed five people.