Suicide bomber kills 18 in Turkey

Ankara // Eighteen people were killed on Sunday when a van packed with five tonnes of explosives blew up in Turkey’s south-east in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants.

The bombing, which killed 10 soldiers and eight civilians, was one of the single deadliest attacks on the Turkish security forces since the attempted coup of July 15 when a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber who detonated a van with five tonnes of explosives,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Earlier reports put the toll at nine dead after the attack which targeted a security post in Hakkari province. The explosion occurred as security forces were searching vehicles in Semdinli district, the official news agency Anadolu said.

Another 26 people – 10 soldiers and 16 civilians – were injured in the blast which was blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The blast left a gaping hole in the road which was 10-15 metres wide and up to seven metres deep, Anadolu said. It also caused major damage to the main gate of the security post.

Soon after the attack, the military confirmed it had begun a large-scale air operation.

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) issued a temporary ban on images from the scene and of the victims.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus described the attack as an “atrocious” and “heinous terrorist attack”, vowing on Twitter that Turkey would never surrender to militant groups.

Over the past two months, the military says it has killed 387 PKK militants in Hakkari province, CNN-Turk reported.

The PKK has waged a 32-year insurgency against the Turkish state, which has killed nearly 40,000 people since 1984. The group is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Since the collapse of a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire in July 2015, more than 600 security forces and over 7,000 PKK militants have been killed, according to Anadolu.

Over the past 15 months, attacks on the Turkish security forces have continued almost daily as the government has pressed military operations against the PKK to rid urban areas of fighters.

Mr Yildirim vowed that Turkey would continue with determination its “fight against the separatist terrorist organisation (PKK)... and all kinds of terrorist organisations” including ISIL.

The bombing comes a day after two suspects believed to have been preparing a car bomb attack blew themselves up on the outskirts of Ankara when police ordered them to surrender.

Turkish officials said they believed the pair were linked to the PKK.

*Agence France-Presse