Riot police tightened security measures after a car bomb exploded in the garden of a housing complex in Turkey's southeastern town of Viransehir on Friday (February 17), killing a child and wounding 17 other people, the provincial governor's office told Reuters. Initial findings showed that an unidentified individual thought to be between 18 to 20 had parked the car loaded with explosives outside the complex in the evening hours, Sanliurfa governor Gungor Azim Tuna was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu agency.
"A terror attack was carried out as the car bomb was remotely detonated. The housing complex has been largely damaged," Gungor was quoted as saying. The blast shattered windows in several buildings nearby and was felt across the neighbourhood, a witness said. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag on Twitter called it a terrorist attack saying it targeted judges, prosecutors and clerks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The PKK launched a separatist insurgency in 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. The conflict flared up again in July 2015 after the collapse of a two-year-old ceasefire. The PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Leftist and Islamist groups have also carried out bomb attacks across Turkey in the past, with Islamic State blamed for some recent attacks.
The last attack was in early January when an offshoot of the PKK clashed with police and detonated a car bomb outside the courthouse in Aegean city of Izmir, killing a police officer and a court employee.
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