Kurds blamed for Turkish car bomb
A car bomb aimed at the Turkish military killed four people and wounded up to 70 more in the Kurdish-dominated Turkish city of Diyarbakir today.
A bus transporting military personnel was passing a five-star hotel when suspected Kurdish rebels detonated a remote-controlled bomb.
Four people were killed, two of them soldiers, and 68 wounded, four seriously, according to the city governor’s office.
Authorities blamed the blast on Kurdish rebels. Police said two suspects reportedly escaped the scene, denying earlier reports that they were captured.
The attack, which could be heard two miles away, appeared to be retaliation for three airstrikes by Turkish warplanes against Kurdish rebel shelters in northern Iraq last month.
There have been two explosions in Turkey’s commercial centre, Istanbul, over the past two weeks, killing one and injuring nine. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but Istanbul governor Muammer Guler blamed Kurdish rebels.
Rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have battled for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey for more than two decades – a campaign that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
The group uses strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border strikes.
In October, Parliament authorised Turkey’s military to strike back at rebels across the border.
Turkey claims to have killed up to 175 rebels in the first air assault alone on December 16.
“Unfortunately, terrorism showed its bloody face once more in Diyarbakir,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“Such events will not disrupt our determination against terrorism. Our struggle both on international and national levels will continue with the same determination.”
