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Explosion rocks SE Turkish city | Explosion rocks SE Turkish city |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least seven people have been killed in an explosion in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, in the mainly-Kurdish south east of the country, officials say. | |
At least five of the dead are reported to be children. | |
Some 17 people were injured in the blast, which occurred at a park in the city's Baglar district. | |
"We suspect it was a bomb," a senior security official told AFP news agency, adding that the police had not yet reached a definite conclusion. | "We suspect it was a bomb," a senior security official told AFP news agency, adding that the police had not yet reached a definite conclusion. |
Officials in the local governor's office said the explosion was caused by a bomb set off by a mobile phone timer, the Associated Press news agency reported. | |
As rescue workers converged on the scene, police cordoned off the site and launched an investigation. | As rescue workers converged on the scene, police cordoned off the site and launched an investigation. |
Diyarbakir, the central city of the south-east, is a heartland of Kurdish separatist militancy. | Diyarbakir, the central city of the south-east, is a heartland of Kurdish separatist militancy. |
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford, in Istanbul, describes Baglar as a poor area of the city, where most residents are Kurdish migrants. | |
The district mayor is from the Kurdish DTP political party, she adds, and recently called on the Kurdish separatist group the PKK to announce a ceasefire following an upsurge in violence in recent weeks. | |
String of bombs | |
A string of bomb attacks in Turkish tourist resorts and other cities in recent weeks have killed a total of 12 people and wounded dozens. | |
One separatist militant group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (Tac), has said it carried out those attacks. | |
It has also warned on its website last week that it would turn "Turkey into hell". | |
The group, which is said to be linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), called on foreign tourists not to travel to the country. | |
The suspected bomb came shortly after a US envoy arrived in Ankara for talks on increasing US-Turkish co-operation against Kurdish rebels. | |
Retired US air force general Joseph Ralston is due to hold talks with Turkish officials on Wednesday. |