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Five killed, 39 wounded in bomb attack in southeast Turkey

The attack targeted the police station in the town of Cinar.

Ankara, Turkey: Five people were killed and 39 wounded Thursday in a car bomb attack by Kurdish militants on a police station and adjacent housing for officers in southeastern Turkey, the provincial governorate said.

Two people were killed in an initial car bomb attack by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the town of Cinar while three more lost their lives when a building collapsed due to the damage sustained, the governor's office of Diyarbakir province said in a statement quoted by Turkish media.

The attack came two days after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in Istanbul's main tourist district, killing 10 Germans. Turkish officials say the bomber was affiliated with the Islamic State group.

Clashes between Turkey's security forces and the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, reignited in July, shattering a fragile peace process.

Authorities have since imposed extended curfews in flashpoint neighbourhoods and towns in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast region of the country as the security forces battle Kurdish militants who are linked to the PKK. Those militants have mounted barricades, dug trenches and set up explosives to keep authorities away. The operations have resulted in more than a hundred civilian casualties, and displaced thousands, human rights groups say.

The conflict between the government forces and the PKK has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. The group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its western allies.

( Source : AP )
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