ISTANBUL: At least seven security force members travelling in a military vehicle were killed by a remote-controlled bomb in southeast Turkey, security sources said.
The blast hit the armoured vehicle on the highway linking Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, to the district of Lice. Sources previously said the explosion hit a convoy of vehicles.
The incident comes just a day after a car bomb in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara, killed at least 28 people and wounded 61 others. The country has recently faced a string of attacks blamed on militants and Kurdish rebels.
The perpetrator of the Ankara attack was identified as a member of the Syria Kurdish YPG militia working with insurgents from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Prime Minister Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu said the bombing showed that the Syrian Kurdish YPG is a terrorist organisation and that Turkey expects cooperation from its allies against the group. He said Turkey would continue to shell positions of the YPG.
Washington, which has said the YPG is not a terrorist group, has backed the insurgents in the fight against the militant Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.
“In light of information we have obtained, it has been clearly identified that this attack has been carried out by the members of terrorist organisation inside Turkey together with a YPG member individual who has crossed from Syria,” Davutoglu said.
He also said nine people have been detained in relation to yesterday’s attack.
