Turkish police killed in car bomb

At least seven Turkish police officers and 20 other people were injured in a bomb attack in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on 31 March. Diyarbakir is the largest city in the mainly Kurdish region. The attacker targeted a minibus carrying members of the special forces. There was no claim of responsibility although the region has been wracked with violence since the government’s ceasefire with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) collapsed in July 2015. The attack occurred a day before Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was scheduled to visit the city. 

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — A car bomb killed seven police officers and wounded around two dozen people in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Thursday, security sources and officials said, a day before the prime minister was to visit the biggest city in the largely Kurdish southeast.

A parked car laden with explosives was detonated by remote control as a minibus carrying the police officers turned a corner on a busy street, the officials said, adding that civilians were also among the wounded.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is on a visit to Washington for meetings on nuclear security, denounced the attack, saying it showed the “ugly face” of militants “as they are cornered.”

In a speech to the Brookings Institution, Mr. Erdogan said: “This shows terrorism’s ugly face again. The determination of our security forces will, God willing, put an end” to it.