13 Turkish soldiers killed in a suicide car bombing

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ISTANBUL, Dec 17, (Agencies): Thirteen Turkish soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded Saturday in a suicide car bombing blamed on Kurdish militants targeting off-duty conscripts, the latest in a string of attacks to rock Turkey in recent months.

The government said all signs so far suggested the the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind the bombing in the city of Kayseri, a usually calm industrial hub in the heart of Anatolia. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said a total of 56 people were wounded, half a dozen of them seriously, and that seven people had been detained on suspicion of involvement while five more were on the run.

In Kuwait, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Saturday sent a cable of condolence to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the victims of the car bombing that hit Turkey’s central province of Kayseri earlier today and left dozens of people dead or wounded.

In the cable, His Highness the Amir condemned the blast as a terrorist act that targeted innocents and breached all religions and human and ethical values. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al- Sabah sent the Turkish president cables of similar sentiments.

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed the State’s condemnation of the “terrorist” bombing that targeted a bus boarding troops in Kayseri in the Republic of Turkey. A Ministry official source affirmed in a statement the State of Kuwait’s siding with Turkey and supporting its measures to safeguard its security and stability.

The official source emphasized Kuwait’s unwavering stand of renouncing all forms of terrorism and its continuing call upon the international community to intensify efforts to eradicate the phenomenon of terrorism.

The source expressed condolences to Turkey, namely the leadership, the government, the people and the victims’ families, wishing the injured quick recovery. Television pictures showed the bus reduced to a smouldering wreck by the blast, which came a week after 44 people were killed in a double bombing in Istanbul after a football match.

That attack was claimed by Kurdish militants. “All indications at present point to the PKK,” Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus told NTV television. He said that the materials used in the bombing were similar to those used in the Istanbul attack last week. “You don’t just buy these at the shopping mall… there is a logistical support,” he said. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the attack was carried out by a “suicide bomber”, without giving further details.

The bus — carrying low-ranking privates and non-commissioned officers — was attacked after leaving the commando headquarters in the city to take the off-duty soldiers on a shopping trip. Those killed were in their early 20s, reports said.

President Erdogan said that the “acts of terror” in Turkey were “aiming at all 79 million of our citizens together with our soldiers and police.” Without referring specifically to the Kayseri attack, he said that Turkey was targeted by all terror groups but especially the PKK. “We will fight decisively against these terror organisations in the spirit of a national mobilisation,” he said. Turkey has seen a spate of deadly bombings in a bloody 2016 blamed both on jihadists and Kurdish militants that have left dozens dead and put the country on daily alert. In June, 47 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, with authorities blaming the Islamic State group.

 

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