Turkey arrests 26 following car bomb blamed on PKK militants

Turkish security forces have arrested at least 26 people in connection with the recent car bomb attack in the country’s Kurdish-majority province of Sanliurfa, which claimed the lives of two civilians and left more than a dozen others injured.

An explosive-laden car was remotely detonated late on Friday in the garden of a housing complex for judges and prosecutors in the southeastern town of Viransehir. An 11-year-old boy and a 27-year-old neighborhood guard were killed in the blast.

“As of last night a total of 26 people had been detained and our security forces are conducting the necessary work,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said during a news conference at Viransehir courthouse on Saturday.

Soylu said the vehicle was exploded just as a security guard, who saw it being parked, was about to intervene with a gun, adding that the force of the explosion killed the guard on the spot and caused damage to 14 buildings nearby.

The Turkish interior minister further noted that eleven people, including the public prosecutor's wife, remain hospitalized. Two of the injured are said to be in a critical condition.

Earlier, the Sanliurfa provincial governor's office announced in a statement that the owner of the vehicle used in the attack was among the detainees.

Sanliurfa Provincial Governor Gungor Azim Tuna said the attack was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.

SS