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Bomb attack at Turkish police station; dozens hurt

A truck bomb blasted through a police station and nearby buildings in south east Turkey on Thursday morning, killing six people and wounding at least 39, in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants.

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The attackers also followed up the vehicle bomb attack with rocket fire and long range gunfire, reports said.

A Reuters witness in the scene said the blast caused extensive damage across the police station, smashing windows on edifices and vehicles and mangling the shutters on stores in roads littered with shrapnel.

Five civilians, including a five-month-old baby, were killed in Wednesday’s vehicle bomb attack on a Turkish police facility, the prime minister has said.

Fighting between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK and the security forces reignited in July, shattering a fragile peace process.

The incident took place in the Cinar district of Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province at about 11.30 p.m. (2130GMT), Diyarbakir Governorate said in a statement.

The relatives of two police officers were killed in the attack, along with three people whose bodies were pulled from the wreckage, it added.

Earlier, reports cited by self-described Kurdish activist Gilgo on Twitter said that PKK also launched attacks in the towns of Bismil, Cizre, Mardin, Silopi, Sirnak, and Van.

Islamic State attacks have killed more than 140 civilians in the last eight months, while the PKK’s strikes with roadside bombings and improvised-explosive devices during the same period in southeast Turkey caused about 100 security officials’ deaths.

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Ten German tourists were killed on Tuesday in a suicide bombing in central Istanbul which the government blamed on Islamic State (IS) group, an arch foe of the PKK. A special operation against the group is being conducted in the area of the attack. The group is known as a terror organization by Turkey and its western friends.

Turkey police HQ 'hit by bomb blast'