Explosion kills 13 soldiers, injures dozens in Turkey

Bombing ‘similar’ to stadium attack that claimed 44

An explosion in central Turkey tore through a bus carrying off-duty soldiers early Saturday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens in the second major attack targeting Turkey’s security forces in a week, the authorities said.

A military statement said the explosion, in the town of Kayseri, was caused by a car bomb. The 13 whowere killed were soldiers on leave from the Kayseri Commando Brigade, the statement said, adding that civilians may have been among the injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion. It came days after Kurdish militants carried out twin bombings at a soccer stadium in the heart of Istanbul that killed at least 44 people, an attack that signaled a sharp escalation of the decades-old conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish separatist groups.

Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Veysi Kaynak, said the attack Saturday was “similar” to the bombings at the soccer stadium last week, which also involved a car bomb.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in comments made after the bombing, singled out “separatist terrorist organizations,” a reference to Kurdish militant groups, and called for a “national mobilization” to combat them.

Pictures of the aftermath of Saturday’s explosion showed the remains of the green-and-white bus, twisted and burned by the blast and surrounded by debris on a tree-lined street.

Violence has accelerated since the collapse of a peace agreement in 2015 between the Erdogan government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, leading to growing fears about the stability of Turkey, which is a NATO member and key ally of the United States.

The country has suffered from spillover of the war in Syria and faced attacks by jihadist militants. A failed coup attempt in July has been followed by a wave of domestic turmoil as the government has pursued a broad crackdown on its enemies, including those accused of fomenting the coup as well as political opponents.

Authorities have arrested dozens of mainstream Kurdish political figures in recent months, as militant factions that reject any negotiations with the state have returned to the fore.

IHA via Associated Press Security officials on Saturday survey the scene of a car bomb attack in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri, Turkey. A public bus was heavily damaged and at least 13 were reported killed and dozens more injured.