Turkey car bomb kills soldiers on public bus

A car bomb in Turkey has killed 13 soldiers and wounded at least 48 others as well as civilians, the military have reportedly confirmed, a week after a similar attack killed more than 30 police officers.

State-run Anadolu news agency said the bomb exploded at an entrance gate to Erciyes University in Kayseri, hitting a public bus that was carrying soldiers on leave and other passengers.

In a statement, the Turkish armed forces said the car bomb went off at 8.45am and targeted military personnel from the Kayseri Commando Brigade. The wounded were rushed to hospitals in the region. The army said civilians may have also been casualties of the “treacherous attack”.

Associated Press reported Turkish military officials confirming a death toll of at least 13.

The governor of Kayseri, Süleyman Kamçi, said the car bomb exploded beside the bus. “Unfortunately we have martyrs and wounded,” he said in remarks carried by the private Doğan news agency.
The blast is likely to further anger the Turkish public after a string of deadly attacks this year, several of which have been claimed by Kurdish militants, including a twin blast last week in Istanbul that killed 44 and wounded more than 150.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s attack, but the deputy prime minister, Veysi Kaynak, likened it to the twin bombings outside the stadium of the Istanbul soccer team Beşiktaş last week.

Those attacks, which targeted police, were later claimed by an offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers party (PKK).
“The car bomb attack resembles the Beşiktaş attack in terms of its style,” Kaynak told reporters, adding that the attack deter Turkey from fighting militancy.

Turkey faces multiple security threats, including spillover from the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria, where it is a member of a US-led coalition against the militant group. It also faces regular attacks from Kurdish militants who have been waging a three-decade insurgency for autonomy in largely Kurdish south-east Turkey.

Speaking about the Kayseri explosion, Kaynak said in remarks broadcast on NTV that “treacherous factions” had taken aim at commandos from the Kayseri Airforce Brigade who had been “training exclusively for the safety of our people”.

Turkey’s prime ministerial office imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the explosion and urged media to refrain from publishing anything that may cause “fear in the public, panic and disorder and which may serve the aims of terrorist organisations”.