The headquarters of Turkey's independent radical republican Cumhuriyet newspaper premises in the Sisli district of Istanbul was target of bomb attack for the third time in a week on Thursday, despite security personnel now surrounding the building and reinforced private security throughout the compound. No casualties were reported in the blast.

It is believed a percussion grenade was used in the attack staged by two assailants who escaped on foot after throwing the hand bomb into the building's alley.

Witnesses said the culprits ran as private security guards opened fire in the air and they were chased, unsuccessfully, by the police too. The two were heard shouting aloud the Islamic takbir "Allahu Akbar" or "God is The Greatest” during the incident.

Newspaper columnist Hikmet Cetinkaya said that windows of the building were shattered during the blast and several vehicles in front were also damaged. He said the developments were extremely concerning and stated that the attack had taken place despite heavy security measures.

Thursday's bombing follows what appear to be two warning attacks over the past week. Last Friday, May 5, assailants threw an unarmed grenade into the garden of the building which was found with its detonation pin still intact.

On Wednesday night, another grenade wrapped in white cloth was hurled into the newspaper's garden again, this time with its detonation pin removed but police said it had failed to explode possibly due to a failure in its detonation mechanism.

"This attack has been committed against democracy and the freedom of press" said the daily's Editor-in-Chief İbrahim Yıldız commenting on Thursday's explosion in an interview with the NTV television, stressing that they were working under very tense conditions.

Editor Mehmet Sucu told Bianet after Wednesday's abortive attack that the assailants were trying to intimidate those working in the newspaper and added "we will continue our publication even with more strength, according to our views... For years we have been targets of attacks and we have also given martyrs".

Reactions to bombing

Press Council deputy chair Dogan Heper said Thursday's attack on Cumhuriyet was "crude and primitive" and described the attack against the freedom of communication being saddening. "We want the culprits to be captured immediately and for measures to be put in place to prevent such attacks in the future" he said.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) issued a statement in which it said the attacks on Cumhuriyet were attacks on the right to gather news and described them as "violence aimed to create security concerns".

The statement said "On one hand there are attempts to restrict the freedom of press with the Anti-Terror Law and on the other hand, forces against freedoms and democracy are increasing violence by the day".

Revolutionary Workers Unions Confederation (DİSK) chairman Suleyman Celebi said the attack carried out against Cumhuriyet targeted the values that it represented and to those believing in these values after describing the daily's role in reflecting the need for a secular and democratic society.

"What is more important" Celebi said, "is that whoever is really behind this attack, the target is to create a social chaos". (EO/II/YE)