Turkey police stations bombed
Car blasts in two cities kill three, injure 48.
ANKARA, Turkey — A car bomb struck the entrance of a Turkish police station Sunday in the southern city of Gaziantep, killing two police officers and wounding 22 other people, according to the state- run Anadolu Agency.
Four civilians were among those injured in the explosion, according to Gov. Ali Yerlikaya of Gaziantep province. The blast shattered the windows of nearby buildings.
The police station is near offices for the governor and mayor. Gaziantep is also home to the offices of international aid organizations focused on the conflict in neighboring Syria.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. A Turkish Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government practice, said investigations were ongoing.
Speaking in Ankara, the Turkish capital, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed his condolences and wished a speedy recovery to those wounded in the “heinous terrorist attack.”
Later Sunday, a car bombing targeted a police station in the southeastern town of Dicle in Diyarbakir province, the interior ministry official said.
He said that “a few soldiers were injured” when the “bomb- laden vehicle exploded.” A local official gave a higher toll, saying one soldier was killed and 26 others, including civilians, were wounded in the attack.
The authorities were blaming the Dicle bombing on the autonomy- seeking Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a group designated by Ankara and its allies as a terrorist organization.
The attacks came four days after a suicide bomber blew herself up outside the Grand Mosque in Bursa, the city’s main tourist attraction, injuring 13 people. A militant Kurdish group TAK, affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, claimed credit for the Bursa attack, Firat news agency reported.
Police in Ankara, meanwhile, carried out anti- terror operations overnight and detained four suspected Islamic State militants allegedly planning to attack May Day demonstrators, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Turkey, which is facing both growing blowback from the conflict in Syria and renewed conflict with Kurdish militants, has seen a rise of deadly attacks across the country. In the past year, more than 200 people across the country have been killed in six major bombings.
In a separate attack Sunday, eight people were wounded after four rockets hit Kilis, another town near the Syrian border, the Anadolu Agency reported. Three Syrians were among the injured.
The news agency said the Turkish military retaliated by firing at Islamic State targets across the border in Syria, killing nine militants. It was not possible to verify the agency’s claim.