Serie of explosions in Turkey, five injured

A bomb went off in front of a local administrator's residence in southeastern Turkey, causing no injuries, an official said, while two other explosions injured five people in the cities of Istanbul and Mardin.

The time-controlled bomb in front of the government building was believed to have been placed by Kurdish rebels and went off at around 1 a.m. (1000 GMT) in the town of Beytussebap in Sirnak province, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Turkish civil servants are rarely permitted to speak on the record.

The explosion caused minor damage to the residence and to a nearby municipality building, the official said.

Later on Monday, an explosion at a cash machine in Mardin, close to the Syrian border, lightly injured four people who were waiting in line, the Anatolia news agency reported. Suat Seyitoglu, a local government official cited by Anatolia, said that it was too early to say whether the explosion was a bombing or not.

Kurdish rebels have recently increased their attacks in the southeast, often using remote-controlled bombs.

More than 37,000 people have died as a result of fighting between the Turkish military and the rebels since 1984.

Separately, a small bomb exploded at the entrance of an underground Istanbul shopping mall in the residential district of Bakirkoy late Sunday, Anatolia reported. One person was slightly injured in the blast.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Kurdish rebels are believed to be behind a bomb attack that killed two people in an Istanbul suburb earlier this month. Leftist and radical Islamic groups are also active in the city, the AP reports.