ISTANBUL, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Kurdish guerrillas were behind a
double bombing in Istanbul last week that killed 17 people,
Turkey's interior minister said on Saturday, adding that all
those involved in the attack had been caught.
 

The blasts, 50 metres (160 ft) and 10 minutes apart, were
the worst such attacks in Turkey since 2003 when al Qaeda
carried out a series of bombings in Istanbul. Some 150 people
were injured in last Sunday's explosions.
 

"Our judgement is that this merciless attack was the work of
the bloody separatist terror group," Interior Minister Besir
Atalay told a televised news conference.
 

"Those who helped, those who gave shelter and those who took
part in the attack have been caught."
 

Government officials had already indicated they suspected  
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group was
responsible for the attack. The PKK has denied involvement and
there have been no claims of responsibility.
 

An Istanbul court on Saturday evening remanded in custody
eight detainees in connection with the attack after a prosecutor
accused them of PKK membership, state-run Anatolian news agency
reported. The prosecutor will now prepare an indictment formally
charging them.
 

The rebel group took up arms against the Turkish state in
1984 with the aim of establishing an ethnic homeland in the
southeast of the country.
 

Some 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict with the
PKK, which Turkey, the United States and European Union consider
to be a terrorist organisation.