A truck bomb explosion has rocked a police headquarters in the town of Cizre in Turkey, killing at least 11 people and injuring scores, officials say, in the latest in a spate of attacks in the country’s turbulent south-east.
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An initial statement by the Şırnak Governorate put the death toll at eight, adding that four of the 45 wounded in the attack are in critical condition. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, for those attacks.
There have been no claims of responsibility.
Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes launched their first major incursion into Syria on Wednesday in support of Syrian rebels, in an operation President Tayyip Erdogan has said is aimed both at driving Islamic State away from the border area and preventing territorial gains by the YPG.
The Health Ministry says it has sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site.
The government has vowed to press on with the campaign to eradicate the PKK from eastern Turkey after a purge in the army for those responsible for carrying out the coup. The town has since been ravaged by heavy fighting between government troops and Kurdish fighters. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died since the rebels took up arms in Turkey in 1984.
It is proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
The Turkish government has intensified its counterterror operations following the recent attacks carried out by the PKK, which is also recognized as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU.
“Turkey is in an intense fight against terrorist organisations”.
A string of PKK attacks have targeted Turkish security forces since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July 2015.
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Turkey is still raw after an attempted coup on July 15 which Ankara blames on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
