Truck bomb kills 18 in Turkey, blamed on Kurds
26 others, including 10 soldiers, injured after blast targets military post in southeast near border with Iraq
ANKARA, Turkey — Eighteen people were killed Sunday when a van packed with five tons of explosives blew up in Turkey’s restive southeast in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants, the prime minister said.
The bombing, which killed 10 soldiers and eight civilians, was one of the single deadliest attacks on the Turkish security forces since the attempted coup of July 15 when a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber who detonated a van (packed) with five tons of explosives,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a press conference in Istanbul.
Earlier reports put the toll at nine dead after the attack which targeted a security post in Hakkari province. The explosion occurred as security forces were searching vehicles in Semdinli district, the official news agency Anadolu said.
Another 26 people — 10 soldiers and 16 civilians — were injured in the blast which was blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Anadolu said.
The blast left a gaping hole in the road which was 10-15 meters wide (33-49 foot) and up to seven meters (22 foot) deep, Anadolu said. It also caused major damage to the main gate of the security post.
Cuneyit Orhan Toprak, governor of Hakkari province where the attack took place, told that private news channel NTV that those wounded in the attack were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces, said the attack occurred at 9:45 a.m. outside a Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Semdinli-Yuksekova highway and was the work of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The checkpoint is 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the town of Semdinli.
Toprak said the attackers first opened fire on the soldiers at the checkpoint to distract them before driving up a minivan containing about 5 tons of explosives and detonating it. An infantry station located behind the checkpoint also suffered heavy damage.
Soon after the attack, the military confirmed it had begun a large-scale air operation.
And, as in previous attacks, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) issued a temporary ban on images from the scene and of the victims, it said on its website.
‘Heinous terror attack’
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus described Sunday’s attack as an “atrocious” and “heinous terrorist attack,” vowing on Twitter that Turkey would never surrender to militant groups.
“For the stability of our country, we will continue doing everything we can to save our homeland and our nation from the forces of terrorism,” he said during a press conference.
Energy Minister Berat Albayrak condemned the attack during a speech in Istanbul.
“I would like to remind all friendly countries that there is great need to take a common stance and display solidarity against terrorism,” he said.
Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks since last summer that have killed hundreds of people and been blamed on either the PKK or the Islamic State group.
Over the past two months, the military says it has killed a total of 387 PKK militants in Hakkari province, CNN-Turk reported.
The PKK has waged a 32-year insurgency against the Turkish state, which has left nearly 40,000 dead since 1984. The group is proscribed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Since the collapse of a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire in July 2015, more than 600 security forces and over 7,000 PKK militants have been killed, according to Anadolu.
Over the past 15 months, attacks on the Turkish security forces have continued on an almost daily basis as the government has pressed military operations against the PKK to rid urban areas of fighters.
Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the fighting.
Fight will go on
Yildirim vowed that Turkey would continue with determination its “fight against the separatist terrorist organization (PKK)… and all kinds of terrorist organizations” including jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group.
The bombing comes a day after two suspects believed to have been preparing a car bomb attack blew themselves up on the outskirts of Ankara when police ordered them to surrender.
Turkish officials said they believed the pair were linked to the PKK.
The attack also took place a day before the year anniversary of the bloodiest attack in Turkey’s modern history when 103 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in twin suicide bombings targeting a pro-Kurdish peace rally in the capital, Ankara.
That attack was blamed on IS.
