Police have detained four people after a bomb attack targeting Turkish soldiers killed five civilians and wounded 68 people, a prosecutor said yesterday.
The four were being interrogated over suspected links to Thursday's attack, said Durdu Kavak, chief prosecutor in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Turkish leadership immediately blamed separatist Kurdish rebels who have carried out bombings across the country in the past.
A bomb-laden car exploded in the predominantly Kurdish area while a military service bus carrying soldiers was passing by. The blast set dozens of cars on fire and shattered the windows of buildings nearby, including one packed with students preparing for university entrance exams. Four of the dead were students, Kavak said in a written statement.
The US Embassy in Ankara condemned the bombing, calling it "a horrific example of the senseless tragedy that terrorism brings."
The city was the scene of another bomb attack last summer targeting military staff. Seven people were wounded.
After Thursday's bombing, paramilitary police seized more than 64kg of explosives in two separate operations across the country, state-run media said.
In Bursa, one of Turkey's commercial centers, security forces raided a minibus in a gas station and found at least 14kg of C-4 plastic explosives and a mechanism that could be used to detonate a bomb. The man driving the minibus was detained, state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Another minibus with more than 50kg of explosives and hand grenades was found in Van, on the eastern tip of Turkey near the border with Iran, Anatolia said.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have waged a guerrilla war since 1984 for autonomy in Turkey's southeast. Diyarbakir is the biggest city in the region.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the PKK for the attacks and vowed to keep up the decades-old fight against the rebels.
"This terrorist organization has never been representative of our people living in the southeast and it will not be," he said. "We will continue our determined fight and will not compromise."
A group of local organizations, such as labor unions and non-governmental organizations, condemned the attack with a joint declaration.
Attorney Sezgin Tanrikulu said via telephone that he condemned the attack on behalf of more than 70 organizations.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS