Car bomb attack in southeast Turkey kills 6, wounds 39

Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at a police station in southeastern Turkey, then attacked it with rocket launchers and firearms, killing six people including civilians.

Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at a police station in southeastern Turkey, then attacked it with rocket launchers and firearms, killing six people including civilians, officials said on Thursday. Thirty-nine other people were injured.

Women cry at the funeral of Lokman Acikgoz and his two sons in Cinar. The members of the family were among several people killed late Wednesday when Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb at a police station in Cinar. (AP)

The attack late on Wednesday targeted the police station in the town of Cinar, in the mostly Kurdish Diyarbakir province, and police lodgings located at the building, the Diyarbakir governor’s office said.

The force of the blast caused a house near the police station to collapse.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said one police officer and five civilians were killed while 39 people were injured, including six police officers. According to the private Dogan news agency the dead included the wife of a policeman and a 5month-old baby who were killed at the police lodgings and two children who died in the collapsed house.

Another police station was attacked with rocket launchers in Midyat town, in the province of Mardin in what appeared to be a simultaneous assault, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. No casualties were reported there.

The explosion caused extensive damage, affecting buildings two or three blocks away from the police station. Windows were blown off and shop shutters were folded in from the force of the blast.

The governor’s office said the security forces responded to the attack, but it was not clear if there were any casualties among the rebels.