Bomb in southeast Turkey reportedly kills 7 police officers - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

Bomb in southeast Turkey reportedly kills 7 police officers

Police and civilians at the site of a bomb attack in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey on March 31, 2016.

Police and civilians at the site of a bomb attack in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey on March 31, 2016.

(Ilyas Akengin / AFP/Getty Images)
Share via

Seven police officers were killed Thursday in an explosion caused by a bomb-laden car in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, the local governor’s office and police force said in a joint statement.

Twenty-seven people were injured, including 13 police officers, the officials said.

The statement said separatist “terrorists,” a government designation for Kurdish militants, targeted an armored vehicle transporting police personnel who had been temporarily deployed to the southeastern city.

The blast damaged several cars and shattered almost all the windows of a high-rise building in the area.

Advertisement

At least six ambulances deployed to collect casualties and security forces rushed to seal off the area.

The attack comes one day before Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to visit the city, including the historic Sur district where several neighborhoods are under curfew.

Turkey has been imposing curfews in several districts of the southeast since August to flush out militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The Kurdish rebels have set up barricades, dug trenches and planted explosives to keep security forces at bay.

Advertisement

The military operations have raised concerns over human rights violations and scores of civilian deaths. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the fighting.

ALSO

How Turkey’s president went from Washington darling to ‘toxic asset’

Advertisement

U.S. orders diplomatic, military families out of southern Turkey amid security fears

New generation of more radical youth emerges in the Kurdish region of Turkey

Advertisement