News / Turkey

Bombing hits Turkey’s Bursa, wounds several people

Wednesday, 27 April 2016 5:32 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 27 April 2016 5:40 PM ]

People stand in front of a shop that was damaged following a bombing, in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, on April 27, 2016. © AFP

A female bomber has set off her explosives in Turkey’s northwestern city of Bursa, leaving at least 13 people injured, local media reports say.

The bombing took place near Bursa's 14th century Grand Mosque on Wednesday.

Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said none of the thirteen sustained critical injury.

Ambulances and fire brigades have been deployed to the scene, according to reports.

The blast smashed windows in shops near the mosque, with television footage showing the injured being treated in ambulances.

The office of the Bursa governor said, in a statement carried by the state-owned Anadolu Agency, that the attack was carried out by a female bomber. An unidentified government official also told Reuters that the bomber was dead.

A man gives first aid to an injured man following a bombing, in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, on April 27, 2016. © AFP

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the explosion yet.

Bursa, a popular tourist destination rich in Ottoman-era architecture, is an industrial hub directly south of Istanbul across the Marmara Sea.

Turkey remains on high security alert after a series of deadly attacks since last summer, which Ankara blames on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and Kurdish militants.

Ankara has been also engaged in a large-scale campaign against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has been pounding the group’s positions in northern Iraq as well.

Turkey’s operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc. Over 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh.

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

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