Eight Killed In Turkish Car Bombing

23:49 Unknown

Fire fighters work in Gaziantep where at least seven people were killed and dozens wounded when a car bomb blew up on August 20, 2012 in the centre of Turkey's south-eastern city of Gaziantep (AFP Photo / Ihlas News Agency)

Eight people have been reported killed and dozens wounded by a bomb attack close to a police station in southeastern Turkey.

Officials said the blast in the town of Gaziantep near the Syrian border on August 20 was caused by a remote-controlled car bomb.



Turkey’s minister of family and social policies, Fatma Sahin, said the bomb went off 25 meters away from a police station, wounding 66 people.

Sahin said the blast also damaged a bus and a shuttle for the local courthouse as well as two cars passing by.

Police officers were reported to be among the casualties.

Turkey has opened a center in Gaziantep to receive international aid for Syrian refugees fleeing the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

But Omer Celik, deputy chairman of the ruling AK Party, blamed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

He wrote in his Twitter account that the group was “trying to provoke our citizens by targeting the civilian population directly.”

The attack comes amid intensified fighting between the Kurdish rebels and Turkish troops in the country’s southeast, where the PKK launched a battle for autonomy nearly 30 years ago.

Earlier on August 20, authorities said two Turkish soldiers were killed by a landmine in the province of Hakkari bordering Iraq and Iran.

Turkish officials blamed the attack on the PKK.

Via rferl.org