Three car bombings targeted a pair of police stations and a military vehicle in Turkey, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 219 others, while a village guard was also killed in a separate clash, officials said Thursday.
(FOX)- Thursday’s third bombing killed four soldiers in a military vehicle in southeast Turkey, the country’s state-run news agency said. The vehicle, returning from an operation in the mainly-Kurdish province of Bitlis, was hit by a roadside bomb, reportedly detonated by Kurdish rebels. A village guard, meanwhile, was killed in clashes between security forces and the Kurdish rebels in a nearby village.
A car bombing attack on a police station in the eastern province of Van late Wednesday killed a police officer and two civilians. At least 73 other people — 53 civilians and 20 police officers — were wounded, officials said.
Authorities blamed that attack on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has launched a campaign of car bombings targeting police stations or roadside bomb attacks on police vehicles. Last week, PKK commander Cemil Bayik threatened increased attacks against police in Turkish cities.
Hours later, another car bombing hit police headquarters in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig early Thursday, killing at least three police office officers and wounding 146 other people, Gov. Murat Zorluoglu said. At least 14 of them were in serious condition.
Mahmut Varol, the deputy mayor for Elazig, told Haber Turk television that the explosion occurred on the grounds of the police headquarters and caused cars parked nearby to catch fire.