UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM DIYARBAKIR GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, EDITS THROUGHOUT
By Sema Kaplan
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) – A vehicle bomb attack on a police station in the largest city in southeast Turkey resulted in injuries on Friday, the provincial governor’s office said.
The Diyarbakir Governorate did not give a casualty figure but a security source earlier told Anadolu Agency that six people had been wounded. The area of the attack is heavily populated and civilians, particularly students, would have been in the vicinity, the statement added.
The explosion struck a building used by riot police officers in Baglar, a district in the center of Diyarbakir, at around 8.00 a.m. local time (0500GMT).
The blast damaged nearby cars and premises. Fire engines and ambulances rushed to the area following the blast. An investigation is underway.
The government imposed a broadcast ban following the attack, as is usual in the aftermath of terrorist incidents.
The attack followed the arrests earlier Friday of 11 lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including the party’s two co-leaders Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas and parliamentary group leader Idris Baluken. The government has accused the HDP of links to the PKK terrorist group. They were arrested for failing to answer a summons to testify as part of a counter-terrorism investigation, a security source said.
The deputies face prosecution under anti-terrorism laws after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year, along with other lawmakers from Turkey’s main political parties. Unlike deputies from other parties the HDP lawmakers had refused to appear to testify.
