Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
World
Al Jazeera And Agencies

Nine dead in blast in southeastern Turkey

The bomb went off in Diyarbakir's Baglar district [Kadir Konuksever/Al Jazeera]

Nine people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in a huge explosion in central Diyarbakir, a city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers and seven civilians were killed in Friday blast.

The Diyarbakir governor's office said a car bomb went off at about 8am local time (5:00 GMT), adding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had claimed responsibility. 

Turkey arrests pro-Kurdish opposition leaders

Al Jazeera's Kadir Konuksever, reporting from Diyarbakir, said an annex to the police headquarters had been targeted. "Four other civilian buildings are heavily damaged," he said. 

The explosion happened hours after police arrested 12 MPs from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party.

The government has stepped up a military campaign in the troubled southeast to eradicate PKK fighters, who have launched almost daily attacks since the rupture of a fragile ceasefire last year.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984, with the aim of carving out an independent state for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.