Car bomb in Diyarbakır injures police officers

DİYARBAKIR

A bomb hit an armored police van in the country’s southeast on Dec. 15, injuring nine people, while five suspects were detained.

Eight police officers and another person were hurt in the attack carried out with a bomb vehicle near the province of Diyarbakır, the local governor’s office said.

The nine were rushed to hospital as a “precaution,” a statement said, adding that their injuries were not life-threatening.

Five suspects were detained, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced. “Police caught those who planted the bomb and left the car here.”

Television images showed a white bus standing on a debris-strewn road with its luggage compartment heavily damaged.

The mangled remains of a smaller vehicle stood nearby.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

The blast on a road between Diyarbakır and the neighboring province of Mardin was the first in the region reported by officials in more than five years.

The Turkish army conducted a massive air campaign on PKK targets in northern Iraq and northern Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signaled to launch a new ground offensive in northern Syria after a November bombing that claimed the lives of six people on Istanbul’s famous İstiklal Avenue.

On Dec. 11, he told Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key player in the Syrian conflict, to cleanse terrorists from the border region.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the European Union, has claimed some of the past bombings in the region.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the organization has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.