Two civilians and one police officer also died in another explosion late Wednesday at a police station in the city of Van, with at least 73 others injured, including 20 police officers, Reuters said.
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Soldiers, medics, rescue teams and officials work at the blast scene where two officers and one civilian were killed when a vehicle bomb exploded outside a police station near the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey.
Suspected Kurdish rebels have carried out a wave of deadly bombings in Turkish cities in what appears to be an intensified campaign against state security forces in the chaotic aftermath of the failed coup.
More than 600 members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in PKK attacks since a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire collapsed in 2015, according to Turkish officials.
Erdogan said Turkey was under “joint attack” by various organizations he said were in close contact with each other and were “acting under the same motivations even if they have different names”.
More than 40,000 people have died since the PKK took up arms in 1984 in a separatist rebellion against the Turkish state.
Just a few hours later, five soldiers and a village guard were killed when a homemade bomb exploded in the path of a military convoy in the southeastern town of Bitlis.
It happened at the police headquarters in one of Turkey’s eastern cities.
“The West doesn’t understand our struggle, they didn’t understand, they don’t understand and they won’t understand”, he said in a speech. Turkey and its allies consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
Greece’s foreign ministry says it has received an official extradition request from Turkey seeking the return of eight Turkish military personnel who fled to northern Greece by helicopter after the abortive coup.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim cancelled his day’s schedule and was heading to Elazig with Isik and General Hulusi Akar, head of the armed forces, sources at Yildirim’s office said. Murat Zorluoglu, the governor for Elazig, said the blast killed at least three police officers and wounded 146 people.
PKK commander Cemil Bayik threatened increased assaults against authorities in Turkish cities last week.
Yildirim blamed the PKK for the attack.
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“Those responsible for these crimes show a contempt for the right to life and must be brought to justice”, said Andrew Gardner, the rights group’s Turkey researcher.
