3 killed in car bomb targeting Turkish police

World Today

Turkish authorities stand outside a damaged police station after an explosion near the city of Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at the police station killing two police officers and a young child, officials said. (Mehmer Piskin/IHA via AP)

Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at a police station in southeast Turkey on Monday, killing two police officers and a young child, officials said. About 25 other people were wounded.

The attack targeted a traffic police station on a highway linking the city of Diyarbakir and the town of Batman, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Paramedics and other people carry away a body after an explosion at a police station near the city of Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at the police station killing two police officers and a young child, officials said. (Mehmer Piskin/IHA via AP)

Paramedics and other people carry away a body after an explosion at a police station near the city of Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at the police station killing two police officers and a young child, officials said. (Mehmer Piskin/IHA via AP)

The explosion tore a large crater in the highway, while television footage showed a three-story building that appeared to have been gutted by the blast.

Officials blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The Diyarbakir governor’s office said eight police officers were among the wounded.

Clashes between the PKK and Turkey’s security forces resumed last year after a tenuous ceasefire collapsed.

The PKK has frequently targeted police and the military with roadside explosives or car bombs.

Last week, a wave of PKK attacks targeting Turkish police and soldiers in the mainly Kurdish southeast region, including Diyarbakir, killed at least 12 people.

Story by the Associated Press