About 30 people were injured in a massive blast in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul on Sunday, semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

The explosion occurred at around 7:00 PM (16:00 GMT) in a garbage bin in front of a shopping center in Istanbul's Bakirkoy district, said the report.

About 30 people were injured in the powerful blast, some in serious condition, the report added.

Ambulances and firefighters had rushed to the scene of explosion and the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Police were carrying out investigation into the blast, said Anatolia.

The exact cause for the blast was not immediately clear, but the police suspected of a bomb attack.

Clashes have soared recently between Turkish security forces and militants of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) as riots erupted in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.

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

Turkish security forces have been battling an armed campaign by the PKK in the southeast since 1984 as more than 30,000 people have been killed in the clashes between the two sides. Violence has increased after the PKK ended a six-year unilateral cease-fire in June 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2006)