This item is based on an AP report of the reaction of Turkish officials to the bombing. TRNN has no independent verifiable information as to who is responsible for the attack. See the context section for various takes on the events.
Story Transcript
VOICE OF ZAA NKWETA, PRESENTER/PRODUCER: A car bomb targeting soldiers killed five people and wounded sixty-eight others, including thirty soldiers, on Thursday in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in Southeast Turkey. Authorities said a bus transporting troops was passing by a five-star hotel when a remote controlled car bomb was detonated. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkish leadership immediately blamed separatist PKK Kurdish rebels who have carried out bombings across the country in the past. Two high school students were emerged from the building, where they were taking preparatory courses for university exams, and three other civilians were killed. The explosion shattered the windows of surrounding buildings, and the sound of the blast was heard from some two miles away.
(CLIP BEGINS)
REPORTER (OFF-CAMERA, SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): Can you tell us what happened?
WOUNDED MAN (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): I was in the classroom. I heard an explosion, then the glass broke and hit my head and the electricity had gone. I cannot remember the rest.
(CLIP ENDS)
The attack appeared to be a retaliation to three air strikes by Turkish warplanes against Kurdish rebel shelters in northern Iraq last month. The group is said to use strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border strikes.
(CLIP BEGINS)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): Unfortunately, terrorism showed its blood face once more in Diyarbakir. We have four lives lost and 52 injured victims, six of those in a bad condition.
(CLIP ENDS)
The attack will likely strengthen the position of Turkish generals who want to hit back hard against the PKK both in Turkey and in northern Iraq.
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