News / Turkey

Car bomb kills 7 Turkish police officers in Diyarbakir

Thursday, 31 March 2016 4:33 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 31 March 2016 6:06 PM ]

Forensic experts inspect the area after a car bomb attack targeting a minibus carrying members of the police special forces, occurred in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey March 31, 2016. (Reuters Photo)

A car bomb attack targeting Turkish police forces has left seven officers dead and at least 27 people injured in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey.

On Thursday, a security source said civilians were among the injured people in the attack that hit a minibus carrying members of the police special forces in Diyarbakir on Thursday.

Meanwhile, broadcaster Haberturk TV reported that the blast hit the passing vehicle near a bus station in the city.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan condemned the bomb attack, saying, "This shows terrorism's ugly face again. The determination of our security forces will, God willing, put an end" to terrorism.

Erdogan made the remarks during a speech to the Brookings Institute as part of his ongoing visit to the United States to attend a nuclear security summit.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion.

But a ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government collapsed last July and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

On March 19, at least five people were killed after a massive bomb explosion rocked a crowded shopping district in the Turkish city of Istanbul with reports saying the attacker was among those killed.

Earlier, a bombing attack claimed by a Kurdish militant group, left about 35 people dead in the capital, Ankara.

Turkey has been the scene of major bombing attacks since last July, when it launched a military campaign against militants of the PKK in the southeastern border areas.

The Turkish military has also been conducting offensive operations against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of attacks against Turkish police and security forces.

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