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13 soldiers killed, 56 wounded in attack in Kayseri
 A total of 56 people were being treated in hospital after a car bomb attack on a bus in the central Turkish city of Kayseri on Dec.17, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, an attack the military has said killed 13.Soylu, who was speaking at a joint news conference with the health minister, said that 12 of the wounded were in intensive care and four were in critical condition. He did not give an update on the death toll. Soylu also said seven suspects were detained in connection with Kayseri bombing, search under way for five others. "The terrorist was identified," Soylu added. Health minister Recep Akdag told the news conference that a large number of the wounded were lightly injured. The military earlier said that 13 soldiers were killed and 48 injured when a car bomb hit a bus transporting off-duty military personnel. The soldiers - all low-ranking privates and non-commissioned officers - had been given permission for leave from the commando headquarters in the city, it said in a statement. The wounded were being treated in hospital while there could also be additional civilian casualties, it added. Turkey's Dogan News Agency had said the blast hit the bus as it drove past a car believed to be packed with explosives. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been informed of the attack by the chief of staff General Hulusi Akar, Anadolu Agency said. Kurdish issue-focused People’s Democratic Party (HDP) issued a statement following the attack, saying that HDP strongly condemned the attack. Moreover, Kayseri Governor Süleyman Kamçı earlier said it was a suicide attack. “The car bomb was detonated by a suicide attacker,” Kamçı added. Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Twitter that Turkey would redouble its efforts to fight militancy. "We will fight these cowards with a national mobilisation," he said, without elaborating. Meanwhile, Turkey’s media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), imposed a temporary ban that includes live broadcast from the scene, footage taken from the time of the blast and afterwards, and images of bodies, the agency said in a statement. An investigation to the attack is underway. Material used in bomb attack in Kayseri is similar to Istanbul attacks The materials used in a car bomb attack on a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central Turkish city of Kayseri on Dec.17 were similar to those used in a twin bombing last week in Istanbul, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said. Kurtulmus made the comment in an interview with broadcaster NTV. All signs so far indicate that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind a deadly bombing on a bus carrying Turkish soldiers that left at least 13 dead and dozens wounded, Kurtulmuş said. "All indications at present point to the PKK. We have to take into account all possibilities but the signs at present point to the PKK," he added. HDP offices across Turkey attacked [RUDAW.NET] A number of offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... were attacked on Saturday. The party’s office in Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district was attacked by a group of 30 to 40 people who broke down the door, smashed windows and started a fire. Police and fire trucks were called to the scene. In the Darica district of Kocaeli, an unidentified person or persons opened fire on HDP’s district office. The police were called to the scene. No injuries have been reported and it is believed the office was empty at the time of the attack, CNN Turk reported. Kurdish media has also reported attacks on HDP offices in Ankara, Izmir, Canakkale, Hatay, and Erzincan. The attacks come the same day at least 13 Turkish soldiers were killed and 56 maimed in a boom-mobileing in the central city of Kayseri. No group has grabbed credit for the attack yet but in the hours after the bombing, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said that "Turkey is under the threat of attacks by terrorist groups, especially the separatist terrorist organization which is trying to do its best to block Turkey’s progress," referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Erdogan has frequently accused HDP members of supporting the PKK. Many HDP MPs, including the two co-chairs, are facing terrorism charges. Posted by: Steve White 2016-12-18 |
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