Turkish police and firefighters are parked near a damaged police headquarters after a vehicle bomb killed eight Turkish police officers and injured 45 people on August 26, 2016 in Cizre, southeastern Turkey, an attack blamed on Kurdish militants.
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State-run Anadolu Agency blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been involved in nearly daily clashes in the region since last July, when a ceasefire between it and the government collapsed.
But local media has blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the blast.
The Cizre attack came as Turkey has been weakened by a failed July 15 military coup.
Ambulances and health officials rushed to the scene of the attack, and the injured were brought to Cizre Public Hospital to receive treatment.
The movement has been fighting for autonomy for decades and has, especially in Turkey’s view, sister organisations in Iraq, and especially in Syria. But it also fears Kurdish militias in Syria will seize a swathe of border territory and embolden Kurdish insurgents on its own soil.
Friday’s bombing comes a day after suspected PKK gunmen targeted the convoy of opposition Republcian People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the Black ea province of Arrtvin.
Security forces have launched an operation to catch the terrorists.
Turkish troops fired on YPG fighters in northern Syria on Thursday.
Heightened PKK attacks inside Turkey could prompt Turkey to take bolder moves against the Syrian Kurds.
On Wednesday, Turkish forces moved into bordering Syria to target the Islamic State Group and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, YPG, militia forces.
Turkey, along with the United States and many other European countries consider the PKK a terrorist group and refuses to carry any kind of negotiations to resolve the Kurdish issue.
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The suicide bomber, thought to be a boy between 12 to 14 years old, detonated his explosives among people dancing on the street.
