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Car Bomb Kills 4 Turkish Police Officers in Diyarbakir Car Bomb Kills 7 Turkish Police Officers in Diyarbakir
(about 5 hours later)
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — A car bomb killed four Turkish police officers and wounded 20 other people in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Thursday, a government official said, the latest violence to hit the biggest city in the largely Kurdish region. DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — A car bomb killed seven police officers and wounded around two dozen people in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Thursday, security sources and officials said, a day before the prime minister was to visit the biggest city in the largely Kurdish southeast.
The attack targeted a minibus carrying members of the police special forces, a security source said, adding that civilians were also among the wounded. The explosion hit the vehicle as it passed near a bus station in Diyarbakir, the broadcaster Haberturk TV said. Ambulances rushed to the scene, it said. A parked car laden with explosives was detonated by remote control as a minibus carrying the police officers turned a corner on a busy street, the officials said, adding that civilians were also among the wounded.
The southeast has been scorched by waves of violence since a cease-fire between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., and the government collapsed last July. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is on a visit to Washington for meetings on nuclear security, denounced the attack, saying it showed the “ugly face” of militants “as they are cornered.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. A P.K.K. offshoot has claimed responsibility for two car bombings this year in the capital, Ankara. In a speech to the Brookings Institution, Mr. Erdogan said: “This shows terrorism’s ugly face again. The determination of our security forces will, God willing, put an end” to it.
The first, on February 17, targeted a military bus and killed 29 people, most of them soldiers. The second, just under a month later, tore through a crowded transport hub and killed 37 people. He said 27 people had been wounded in the attack.
Turkey, a NATO member, faces multiple security threats. As part of an American-led coalition, it is fighting the Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq. In the southeast, the collapse of the two-and-a-half-year cease-fire has meanwhile set off some of the worst violence since the 1990s. The southeast has been scorched by violence since the collapse last July of a cease-fire between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the government. The government has said it has killed thousands of militants since then, while more than 350 members of the security forces have been killed in the fighting.
In Istanbul this month, a suicide bomber, who the government said was a member of Islamic State, killed three Israeli tourists and an Iranian. Round-the-clock curfews have been instituted in parts of the southeast, where the economy has been devastated by the fighting. One of the hardest hit areas has been Diyarbakir’s historic Sur district, which is encircled by Unesco-listed Roman-era walls.
Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, in the area ahead of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit, said the government wanted to rebuild the region.
“We are here to rebuild Diyarbakir and make it beautiful, and they want to destroy it,” he said in comments broadcast live. “We will not retreat in fear.”
The government has announced an ambitious restoration plan for the southeast.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb attack. An offshoot of Kurdistan Workers’ Party has claimed two car bomb attacks this year in the capital Ankara.
The first, on Feb. 17, targeted a military bus and killed 29 people, most of them soldiers. The second, just under a month later, tore through a crowded transport hub and killed 37 people.
In Istanbul this month a suicide bomber, who the government said was a member of Islamic State extremist group, killed three Israeli tourists and an Iranian.