Turkish prosecutor denies mortar attacks behind Istanbul airport blasts

A Turkish prosecutor has denied press reports that mortar attacks were behind last month's blasts at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, which killed a person and injured another one.

"Our file does not include information that the attack was carried out by mortar fire, and no statement has been made by our office to any media," Anatolia chief prosecutor Fahmi Tosun said in a statement issued by his office.

The prosecutor added that an investigation into the blasts has not yet been concluded.

On Thursday, Turkey's semi-official Anadolu Agency reported that four mortar rounds were fired from a forested area around 2 km away from the airport on Dec. 23, quoting what it called a statement released by Istanbul's Anatolia Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, known as a sympathizer of Turkey's outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), has claimed responsibility for the attack and said it used mortar fire.

Turkish security forces have been fighting against PKK militants in the country's southeast since July last year.

The PKK negotiated a cease-fire with Ankara in 2013, but the truce fell apart in the wake of a suicide bomb attack on July 20, 2015, in the border town of Suruc in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa. Some 34 pro-Kurdish and left-wing activists were killed.

Tension has been running high since then, especially in southeastern Turkey.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Endit