Deadly explosion hits Turkey's southeastern Silopi

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – Four civilians lost their lives, and dozens were wounded in a deadly explosion in  Kurdistan of Turkey (Bakur), town of Silopi on Monday evening.

Turkish security sources in Silopi told Kurdistan24 news office in Diyarbakir that explosives were remotely detonated when a police vehicle passed through a residential neighborhood in Silopi.

According to the security sources, a 4-year-old child was among the dead and about 27 were wounded, including five policemen.

Several ambulances were deployed to the scene of the blast, and the wounded were transferred to Silopi State Hospital.

Among the wounded, six were in critical condition, according to Silopi State Hospital officials.

Several cars and houses were also severely damaged near the site of the explosion.

The Turkish state-run press agency Anadolu Agency (AA) reported the names of the deceased with a different casualty toll.  

“Civilians Isa Torlak, Ekrem Birlik, Davut Yoksul, and 4-year-old Halime Birlik were killed in the attack, which left 23 people wounded, including five police officers,” the AA report said.

So far no parties have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Silopi, a border town in Turkey’s southeast Sirnak province near the border with Iraq, has been scorched by violence along with most of Turkey’s southeast mainly Kurdish areas.

Since a ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the government collapsed last July, round-the-clock curfews were instituted in parts of the southeast. 

A top UN official recently deplored Turkish government’s military abuses in the Kurdistan of Turkey, stating that more than 100 people were burned to death while sheltering in basements in Cizre.

Reporting by Hisham Arafat

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa