Car bomb kills one, injures 13 in Turkey’s Gaziantep

A bomb exploded Sunday outside police headquarters in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, killing one policeman and wounding 13 other people, the local governor said.

Gaziantep regional governor Ali Yerlikaya was quoted by Turkish media as saying nine of those wounded were police. NTV television said the explosion was caused by a car bomb and had been followed by sounds of gunfire.

Television pictures showed chaotic scenes outside the imposing police headquarters in Gaziantep as ambulances rushed to help wounded lying on the ground.

One of the main cities of Turkey’s southeast, Gaziantep has a population of around 1.5 million and is also a major hub for refugees who have fled the war in neighbouring Syria.

The attack comes with Turkey on edge after two deadly attacks in Istanbul this year blamed on jihadists and a pair of attacks in Ankara that were claimed by Kurdish militants and killed dozens.

However there was no immediate indication over who could have carried out the attack in Gaziantep.

Police security has been stepped up across the country on Sunday as Turkish leftist and labour activists prepare to celebrate May Day, an event that often ends in clashes with security forces.

PKK attack on Turkish military squad kills three

Three Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack Sunday in the Kurdish-dominated southeast blamed on militants from the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), the army said.

The attack took place in the Nusaybin district of Mardin province, where the army has been conducting a military operation backed by a curfew against the PKK, it said.

The army blamed the attack on the “separatist terror group”, its customary phrase for the PKK which it never mentions by name.

The Dogan news agency said the PKK opened fire with rockets on an army bomb disposal team.

Turkey has waged an offensive against the PKK after the collapse in 2015 of a two-year ceasefire declared by the group. Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in attacks since then.

One of the PKK’s leaders, Cemil Bayik, warned in an interview with the BBC this month the group was ready to “escalate the war” in response to Ankara’s military campaign.

The renewed conflict has also struck at the heart of the country, with two attacks that killed dozens of people in the capital Ankara claimed by Kurdish rebels.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey’s biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy.