Turkey car bomb attack kills three-year-old child

Bomb exploded near the homes of judges and prosecutors in mainly Kurdish town

Video grab of an explosion in Viransehir, southeastern Turkey, which borders Syria. Photograph: DHA via AP

A three-year-old boy has been killed and at least 15 people injured in a car bomb attack in southeastern Turkey.

The bomb exploded near the homes of judges and prosecutors in the mainly Kurdish town of Viransehir, in Sanliurfa province, which borders Syria.

Sanliurfa governor Gungor Azim Tuna said that a young man parked the explosives-laden vehicle near the properties and later detonated it with a remote-controlled device.

The attack killed the three-year-old son of a court clerk, he said.

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About 15 people were hospitalised but none of them was in a serious condition, Mr Tuna said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Attacks

Turkey has suffered a series of violent attacks since 2015, carried out either by the Islamic State group or by Kurdish militants.

Kurdish militants have led a three-decade-long insurgency and resumed fighting against the Turkish government in 2015 after a ceasefire collapsed.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has targeted police or government lodgings with car bombs in the past.

The group is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

Turkey’s minister for justice Bekir Bozdag condemned the attack on Twitter and said the government would not be deterred from its fight against terrorist groups.

“Our determined and forceful struggle will continue,” Mr Bozdag wrote.

AP