IS claims responsibility for 'first bomb attack' in Turkey
IS claims responsibility for 'first bomb attack' in Turkey
For the first time, the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a militant attack in Turkey, following the bombing of a police station in the south of the country.
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The bombing hit a police headquarters in the Kurdish-majority of Diyarbakir [AFP]
For the first time, the Islamic State group has claimed to have staged a bombing in Turkey, following a car bomb attack which killed 11 people in the south-east of the country.
IS-affiliate Amaq said "fighters from IS detonated an explosives-laden vehicle parked in front of a Turkish police headquarters in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey", according to US-based SITE Intelligence Group.
The move marks the first time IS claims an attack in Turkey, although the militant group has been blamed over the last year for a series of strikes against Kurdish activists, tourists and on Istanbul airport.
The bombing on Friday - which Ankara blamed on Kurdish militants - hit a police headquarters in the Kurdish-majority of Diyarbakir killing close to a dozen people and wounding over 100.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said the toll rose to 11 on Saturday after two more civilian victims succumbed to their wounds.
Meanwhile the Turkish military announced on Saturday that it hit 71 IS targets in northern Syria in the past 24 hours.
Five IS militants were killed in airstrikes, while five Turkey-backed rebel fighters and one Turkish soldier was killed, the army said in a statement.
Another eight IS militants were killed by coalition airstrikes, the statement added.
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