Five wounded in bomb attack in Turkey’s east

TUNCELİ – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

One soldier and four civilians were wounded in a late Aug. 13 bomb attack by suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on a military post in the eastern province of Tunceli.

Militants detonated a van that was parked in front of a gendarmerie post in the Pülümür district after opening fire on soldiers in a watch tower with long-barelled weapons. One specialized sergeant and four civilians, including a woman living nearby the post, were wounded in the attack.

Pülümür Mayor Müslüm Tosun said the wounded soldier and the wounded woman were transferred to nearby Erzincan for treatment.

A wide-scale operation has begun to find the fleeing militants.

The road linking Tunceli, also known as Dersim, and Erzincan was re-opened to traffic at 7 a.m. following the attack.

According to initial reports, the weight of the explosive inside the van was between a ton and 1.5 tons. The explosion also created a one-by-four-meter hole in the road. Six houses nearby the post were also damaged by the blast.

The PKK is active in the province, as is the outlawed Turkish Workers and Peasants’ Liberation Army (TİKKO).