Several bombs rocked Turkey's Mediterranean coast and Istanbul late Sunday and Monday, causing at least three deaths and injuring many more. But the toll could have been even higher: Police have reportedly foiled another attack in the western port city Izmir after arresting a member of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).

According to reports by the Turkish news agency Anadolu, the man's accomplices are already in custody and the police found plastic explosives in the raid. The BBC also reported that police were searching for two suspects in connection with the bombing in Antalya on Monday.

The explosion in the popular tourist resort -- which killed three and injured more than 70 -- was by far the worst of the attacks. Several tourists required medical treatment after the attack. The nationalities of the dead -- three confirmed by the police but four according to press reports -- have not yet been released.

The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK), believed to be tied to the PKK, claimed responsibility for the bombings in Istanbul late Sunday evening and in the coastal resort of Marmaris -- which was hit by three separate explosions. One bomb in Marmaris detonated under a minibus carrying tourists, wounding 10 British visitors and several Turks.

The TAK made clear that it was targeting Turkey's tourist industry to further its separatist cause for the country's sizable Kurdish minority. "We have warned the public of Turkey and the international public before, Turkey is not a safe country, tourists shouldn't come," the group said in a statement on its Web site.

The explosion in Antalya occurred almost simultaneously with the installation of Turkey's new military chief of staff, Yasar Büyükanit. Shortly after his nomination the general had announced an unyielding fight against the "separatist terror" of the Kurdish extremists. The PKK, which ended its cease-fire two years ago, has used violent means to fight for more political rights for Kurds in Turkey for over 20 years. A guerilla war in southeast Turkey from 1984 to 1999 cost more than 30,000 people their lives.

The TAK tactic of trying to damage Turkey's tourist industry, an important part of the country's economy, could have serious repercussions for the number of foreign visitors. In the first seven months of the year, the number of tourists traveling to Turkey dropped by six percent to around 11 million compared to the same period in 2005.