"A warning bomb," the mass-circulation daily Hurriyet said on its front page, describing Tuesday's blast as the sign of "serious reactions to the deployment of Turkish soldiers."

The attack came just a week after the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won parliamentary approval for sending troops to Iraq despite strong opposition from the Iraqi leadership and public opinion at home.

"Passing a motion is easy, but sending soldiers (to Iraq) is not that easy," Hurriyet said.

"A warning to Turkey," the left-leaning Cumhuriyet wrote of the attack, which killed the bomber and left several people injured, while the popular Sabah described it as a "Message with a bomb."

Iraq's leadership has raised harsh objections to a Turkish deployment, arguing that military involvement by neighboring countries might interfere with domestic politics and impede already fragile reconstruction efforts.

Iraqi Kurds are particularly hostile to the idea, fearing that Turkey, which has long been accused of oppressing its own restive Kurdish minority, wants to thwart their own political gains in the post-Saddam period.

The Turkish army is currently holding talks with the United States on two possible areas of deployment, which encompass some of the most turbulent Sunni regions of Iraq.

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