The bloodshed comes after a top commander with the PKK – which is labelled a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies – last week threatened further attacks in Turkish cities.
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If Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels are responsible, as Turkish officials allege, it would be the first time their campaign has struck in the country’s east, which is not predominantly Kurdish.
Turkey has so far detained around 40,000 people in its investigation following the attempted putsch, which it blames on followers of USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has denied the charge.
Turkey’s prime minister says his government wants the United States to speed up procedures for the extradition of USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating last month’s violent coup attempt.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Ankara next week to reaffirm U.S. commitment to Turkey’s security and democracy, as the failed coup attempt last month in Turkey has left relations between Washington and Ankara in a state of uncertainty.
The report of the attack came as funerals for the victims were underway.
“Our comrade… carried out a suicide attack on police headquarters in Elazig”, the PKK said in a statement, quoted by the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
Footage on the CNN Turk channel showed offices inside the police station in ruins and filled with smoke after the bomb exploded just outside the complex at 9.20am (0620 GMT), when officers had already begun arriving for work.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in the wake of the blast that 217 people had been injured, with 145 of them still in the hospital.
The government has hit back with intense military operations against the group, killing more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq, the agency said.
Yildirim vowed to fight the PKK until it is “eliminated”.
Yildirim said in his comments in Elazig that FETO – the government’s name for Gulen’s network – had “handed over its mission” to the PKK.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the USA and European Union – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015. Human rights organizations claim hundreds of civilians have also died in the clashes. During his three-day visit, the Turkish Foreign Minister is also scheduled to visit Hyderabad on August 20 to open the Turkish Consulate building.
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Asked whether the USA might cave into pressure, the cleric said there was a possibility. “This is the separatist PKK terrorist organization and its extensions”.
