One policeman was killed when the auto bomb went off outside the police headquarters in Gaziantep and 23 people were wounded, including 19 police, the office of Gaziantep regional governor Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement One more policeman later died of his wounds in hospital.
Advertisement
Turkey, which has been hit by a series of deadly suicide and vehicle bombings, several of which have been blamed on IS, began air strikes against the group in Syria last summer. He described Cali as a member of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Turkey, which is facing growing blowback from the conflict in Syria and renewed conflict with Kurdish militants, has recently seen an uptick of such attacks.
A separate vehicle bomb attack carried out by suspected PKK militants on a gendarmerie station in the southeastern town of Dicle wounded 10 troops, security sources said. In Gaziantep, demonstrations were canceled for security reasons.
Police security was also stepped up across Turkey on Sunday as Turkish leftist and labour activists prepare to celebrate May Day, an event that often ends in clashes with security forces.
Meanwhile Istanbul police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters trying to stage a May Day rally in Taksim Square, the scene of violent anti-government protests in 2013.
The offensive started on Sunday when four rockets fired from Syria hit the Turkish border town of Kilis and wounded eight people. Three Syrians were among the injured.
On Sunday, Turkish artillery and drones that took off from southern Turkey simultaneously struck Islamic State targets in Syria, killing 34 militants. It wasn’t possible to verify the agency’s claim.
Advertisement
The province of Gaziantep, bordering Islamic State-held Syrian territory, is home to a large Syrian refugee population and there have been several police raids on suspected Islamic State militants there over the past months. There have been a total of 18 fatalities in that period.
