Non-fatal injuries 110 Location Diyarbakır, Turkey Suspected perpetrator Kurdistan Workers' Party Location Diyarbakır | Start date January 3, 2008 Total number of deaths 5 Attack type Car bomb | |
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Suspected perpetrators Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Similar March 2016 Diyarbakı, 2016 Bursa bombing, 2012 Gaziantep bombing, 2015 Sabiha Gökçen A, 2010 Istanbul bombing | ||
On January 3, 2008, at an estimated local time of 16:50 (14:50 UTC), a car bomb exploded in the city of Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey.
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Target
First reports from the area indicated that the bomb, which exploded in the Dagkapi district of Diyarbakir on Thursday evening, targeted a military service vehicle that had been carrying 46 army personnel as it passed near a school. The district is known to have a very heavy Turkish military presence because of the military helicopter base, hospitals and the military housings around the area. The blast be heard 3 km (two miles) away.
The attack occurred during rush hour.
Casualties
The local police force said five people died in the attack, three of whom were children. About 110 people were wounded, with eight people in a serious condition.
Perpetrators
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast but authorities have blamed militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whom Turkish security forces are fighting both in Turkey and in nearby northern Iraq. The state Anatolian news agency quoted prosecutors as saying that four people had been detained in connection with the blast. Earlier, security sources said 12 people had been detained.
Reaction
Turkey: "This (bombing) is an attack against our people, especially our people in the southeast, in Diyarbakir. The terrorist organisation has never been the representative of our Kurdish citizens," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara. Erdogan also told reporters he would visit Diyarbakir on Saturday. General Yasar Buyukanit, head of Turkey's powerful military General Staff, was due to visit the city on Friday.
United States: This incident has once more showed the necessity of cooperation in fight against terrorism, Chase Beamer, spokesman for the Department's Bureau of European & Eurasian Affairs, told A.A correspondent. Beamer also said Washington is beside Ankara in its fight against terror.