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Many casualties as car bombs hit police stations in east Turkey

Thursday, 18 August 2016 7:18 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 18 August 2016 12:37 PM ]

This photo provided by the Turkish-language CNN Turk television news network shows the aftermath of a car bomb attack against the police station in the city of Elazig, Turkey, on August 18, 2016.

Two car bombings have ripped through police stations in the volatile eastern Turkey, killing at least six people and wounding as many as 160 others.

In the worst attack, a car bomb hit a police station in the city of Elazig early Thursday, killing at least three people and wounding more than 120 others.

Turkey's Dogan news agency said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group was behind the attack.

The attack came hours after a car rigged with explosives struck another police station in the Van province, killing three people and wounding 40. No group has claimed responsibility for the assault.

This photo provided by the Turkish-language CNN Turk television news network shows the aftermath of a car bomb attack against the police station in the city of Elazig, Turkey, on August 18, 2016.

The group has frequently carried out attacks on police stations in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast in recent months.

Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region as well as Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past few months.

The campaign began following the July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.

PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.

The Turkish military’s involvement in the anti-PKK operations comes as it is reeling from the aftermath of a failed July 15 coup attempt.

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