Istanbul (AFP) – A total of 18 people were killed in a car bomb in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, among them eight civilians, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.
“The attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber who detonated a van with five tons of explosives,” Yildirim told a press conference in Istanbul. Earlier reports put the toll at nine dead.
Another 26 people — 10 soldiers and 16 civilians — were injured in the blast in Hakkari province which was blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the official news agency Anadolu said.