‘Outrageous terrorist attack’ outside Turkish governor’s office condemned

AN EXPLOSION killed two people and wounded more than 30 outside the governor’s office in the southern Turkish city of Adana yesterday, weeks after the US warned of attacks by what it called extremist groups.

Video footage showed a vehicle ablaze in the car park outside the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky in the city, 40km from Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Windows were blown out and parts of the façade of the building, roughly six-floorshigh, were torn off.

The state-run Anadolu agency quoted provincial governor Mahmut Demirtas as saying two people were killed. Anadolu said the blast, which occurred shortly after 8am, came from a vehicle in front of the building.

Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Adana for a conference at a separate location, said 33 people had been wounded in the blast.

Adana is about 16km from Incirlik Air Base, which the US military uses to launch attacks against Islamic State militants in Syria. Families of US military personnel were ordered to leave Adana and some other parts of Turkey in March over security concerns.

The US embassy in Turkey condemned what it described as an “outrageous terrorist attack” and said it stood with Turkey, a Nato ally and member of the US-led coalition against Islamic State.

Labour Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said Kurdish PKK militants may have been responsible and that 21 people were wounded, five of them seriously.

“It looks like they (the PKK) were probably behind it yet again, as this looks like one of their actions,” he told broadcaster CNN Turk.

No one claimed responsibility immediately.

The privately-owned Dogan news agency said police had shot the driver of a light commercial vehicle, which tried to flee, despite being ordered to stop by a police team which suspected it was linked to the bombing.

It said an ambulance was sent for the wounded driver along with a bomb disposal expert to inspect the vehicle.

PKK militants have carried out dozens of attacks on members of the security forces and government buildings since July last year, when a ceasefire between the group and the Turkish state collapsed. Civilians have also been killed. – Reuters