Car bomb targets Mardin police station, SE Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – On Wednesday morning, a car bomb targeted a police station in the town of Midyat in Mardin Province, southeastern Turkey.

According to Kurdistan24 reporter Hassan Kako in Diyarbakir, a car bomb destroyed a police station in the province of Mardin, injuring over 30 people.

Following the explosion, ambulances and police swarmed the scene. According to a security source, three people have been killed.

Turkish news outlets insist that Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters carried out the attack. On Thursday, HPG, the military wing of the PKK, released a statement claiming the responsibility of the car bomb attack. 

“Security guards were shooting the car far away before it reached the building, but were unable to stop it,” Kako said.

The blast has caused severe damage to buildings in the area.

Kako also mentioned that the wounded people were sent to Midyat and Mardin hospitals.

Turkey has tightened security measures in the last six months to protect governmental buildings from terror attacks by stationing concrete walls in front of the buildings.

The attack followed the Istanbul blast on Tuesday morning that killed 11, including seven civilians and four police. According to security sources, the Istanbul attack injured at least 36 people.

Later in the evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited a group of wounded individuals at a hospital.

After the trip, he vowed that Turkey’s fight against terrorism will not stop, and he described the attack on the police as “unforgivable.” 

“The mission of our soldiers, our police, and our city guards is to protect our lives and our property. It is unacceptable that these people are targeted. We will continue our fight against terrorism fearlessly,” Erdogan told reporters after the visit.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa

(Hassan Kako contributed to this report in Diyarbakir)