Turkish authorities are accusing Kurdish militants of detonating a vehicle bomb that wounded 50 people in front of the ruling party’s municipal headquarters Monday in the eastern city of Van.
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The attack took place in the heart of the bustling city, between the ruling AKP’s offices and those of the governor, said Besir Atalay, an AKP lawmaker from Van.
Governor Ibrahim Tasyapan said 50 people had been wounded, including four police officers and four Iranian citizens thought to have been visiting during the Muslim Eid holiday.
Footage of smoke rising from a building and firefighters extinguishing a fire are being shown on local television.
A ceasefire between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government was shattered in July 2015.
Turkey appointed new administrators in 24 Kurdish-run municipalities mostly in the southeast on Sunday after removing their mayors over suspected PKK links, triggering protests. The government said in a statement that Turkey removed the mayors to stop local governments from aiding terrorism with public property and funds.
Van province’s population is mostly Kurdish.
Turkey’s military has said its war planes have killed 20 Islamic State group fights in an attack on targets in northern Syria, while Turkey’s president renewed a pledge to destroy the group.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party condemned the appointments as a “coup by trustees” that violates the Turkish constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told Anadolu agency that security forces had taken precautions to prevent violent attacks during the nine-day Eid al-Adha festival. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, as well as by Turkey.
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Security sources have blamed the PKK for the attack but there has been no immediate claim of responsibility. The Government decreed today, in the early morning, the removal from office of 28 mayors, accused of different crimes, such as belonging to and collaborating with terrorist groups.
