KURDISH REBELS TAKE CREDIT FOR BOMBING
A Kurdish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint near a police station Friday in southeast Turkey, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, the prime minister said.
The attack struck the checkpoint 50 metres from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria.
Rebels linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK claimed the attack — the latest in a string of bombings by the group targeting police or military vehicles and facilities.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim vowed to “destroy the terrorists. No terrorist organization can take the Turkish Republic hostage,” he said. “We will give these scoundrels every response they deserve.”
“This attack, which comes at a time when Turkey is engaged in an intense struggle against terrorist organizations both within and outside its borders, only serves to increase our determination as a country and a nation,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Turkey has sent tanks across the Syrian border following weeks of deadly attacks by the PKK and the Islamic State group.