Two militants set off a bomb inside their car by a police headquarters in the central Turkish province of Kayseri yesterday, killing themselves and wounding at least ten others, Turkey's interior minister said.
Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants — including Al Qaida — as well as groups on the far left and right have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's blast.
Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said security forces had followed the car from Goksun district in Kahramanmaras province to Pinarbasi — about 100 kilometres — after it passed a checkpoint in the road without stopping.
Police opened fire as it passed the police headquarters in the town of Pinarbasi and the bomb went off, Sahin said. Pinarbasi lies east of the city of Kayseri, which is about 325 kilometres southeast of the capital Ankara.
It was not immediately clear why police did not stop the car sooner, and Sahin said investigators did not think, as yet, that the target was the police station.
"From what can be seen inside the vehicle, there are two suicide bomber militants inside. They are of course in pieces and the car is destroyed. This is a sad event," Sahin told reporters from the Aegean city of Izmir.
"We were not expecting the terror organisation to stop. We have seen how they continue to carry out crazy acts," Sahin said, using a common term to describe the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who are waging a war against the state.
Turkish media earlier reported that the car had tried to drive into the police station moments before the blast and that 19 people had been wounded in the attack, six of them seriously.
Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants — including Al Qaida — as well as groups on the far left and right have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's blast.
Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said security forces had followed the car from Goksun district in Kahramanmaras province to Pinarbasi — about 100 kilometres — after it passed a checkpoint in the road without stopping.
Police opened fire as it passed the police headquarters in the town of Pinarbasi and the bomb went off, Sahin said. Pinarbasi lies east of the city of Kayseri, which is about 325 kilometres southeast of the capital Ankara.
It was not immediately clear why police did not stop the car sooner, and Sahin said investigators did not think, as yet, that the target was the police station.
"From what can be seen inside the vehicle, there are two suicide bomber militants inside. They are of course in pieces and the car is destroyed. This is a sad event," Sahin told reporters from the Aegean city of Izmir.
"We were not expecting the terror organisation to stop. We have seen how they continue to carry out crazy acts," Sahin said, using a common term to describe the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who are waging a war against the state.
Turkish media earlier reported that the car had tried to drive into the police station moments before the blast and that 19 people had been wounded in the attack, six of them seriously.
Source: Gulfnews
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