Police have detained four people after a bomb attack targeting Turkish soldiers killed five civilians and wounded 68 people, a prosecutor said yesterday.
The four were being interrogated over suspected links to Thursday's attack, said Durdu Kavak, chief prosecutor in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Turkish leadership immediately blamed separatist Kurdish rebels who have carried out bombings across the country in the past.
A bomb-laden car exploded in the predominantly Kurdish area while a military service bus carrying soldiers was passing by. The blast set dozens of cars on fire and shattered the windows of buildings nearby, including one packed with students preparing for university entrance exams. Four of the dead were students, Kavak said in a written statement.
The US Embassy in Ankara condemned the bombing, calling it "a horrific example of the senseless tragedy that terrorism brings."
The city was the scene of another bomb attack last summer targeting military staff. Seven people were wounded.
After Thursday's bombing, paramilitary police seized more than 64kg of explosives in two separate operations across the country, state-run media said.
In Bursa, one of Turkey's commercial centers, security forces raided a minibus in a gas station and found at least 14kg of C-4 plastic explosives and a mechanism that could be used to detonate a bomb. The man driving the minibus was detained, state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Another minibus with more than 50kg of explosives and hand grenades was found in Van, on the eastern tip of Turkey near the border with Iran, Anatolia said.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have waged a guerrilla war since 1984 for autonomy in Turkey's southeast. Diyarbakir is the biggest city in the region.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the PKK for the attacks and vowed to keep up the decades-old fight against the rebels.
"This terrorist organization has never been representative of our people living in the southeast and it will not be," he said. "We will continue our determined fight and will not compromise."
A group of local organizations, such as labor unions and non-governmental organizations, condemned the attack with a joint declaration.
Attorney Sezgin Tanrikulu said via telephone that he condemned the attack on behalf of more than 70 organizations.
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS