“A terrorist attack was carried out with a car bomb on a police bus carrying Special Forces. As of this moment, according to the information we received seven policemen were killed and 13 policemen were wounded. One of them is said to be in critical condition. 14 civilians are also among the wounded”, according to Turkish Minister of Development Cevet Yilmaz.
He added “We condemn this attack. This terrorist attack was carried out against all of us. This attack was carried out primarily against Diyarbakir and people of Diyarbakir.”
CCTV footage released by Diyarbakir police late on Thursday (March 31) showed the moment of a car bomb blast that killed seven police officers and wounded 27 people in the largest city of mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, Reuters reports.
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Parked Car Bomb at the Roadside, on the Way to Police Houses in Diyarbakir
TO SEE VIDEO CLICK IMAGE ABOVE
Footage showed the huge blast sending plumes of smoke into the sky.(SEE VIDEO)
The attack was carried out a day before the prime minister is due to visit the biggest city in the largely Kurdish southeast.
A parked car laden with explosives was detonated by remote control as a minibus carrying the police officers turned a corner on a busy street, minister of development Cevdet Yilmaz said, adding that civilians were also among the wounded.
Turkish Minister of Development Cevet Yilmaz denounced the attack, saying it was carried out against the people of Diyarbakir.
The southeast has been scorched by violence since a ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the government collapsed last July. The government has said it has killed thousands of militants since then, while more than 350 members of the security forces have been killed in the fighting.
Round-the-clock curfews have been instituted in parts of the southeast, where the economy has also been devastated by the fighting. One of the hardest hit areas has been Diyarbakir's historic Sur district, which is encircled by UNESCO-listed, Roman-era walls.
The government has announced an ambitious restoration plan for the southeast.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb attack. A PKK offshoot has claimed two car bomb attacks this year in the capital Ankara.
The first, on February 17, targeted a military bus and killed 29 people, mostly soldiers. The second, just under a month later, killed 37 in a crowded transport hub.
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