Eleven police officers have been killed and 78 people wounded in a bombing in southeastern Turkey.
Officials have blamed the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the truck explosion targeting a checkpoint near a riot police station. All but three of the injured were police officers. Four of the wounded are in critical condition.
Turkey’s radio and television council imposed a temporary gag order on reporting of the attack.
Cizre has been under effective martial law, with a three-month curfew and widespread security presence, since last year. Activists have accused Turkish forces of killing hundreds of people, including about 150 on February 7.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım responded to the bombing, “Let our nation know that we have opened a total war against these terrorist groups.” He vowed that “no terrorist group could hold Turkey captive”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey would thwart the “dirty wishes” of forces aiming to disturb the country’s peace.
The bombing came a day after the leader of the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), escaped an attempted assassination.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was unhurt in the attack on his motorcade in the Black Sea province of Artvin.
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