13 Killed, 48 Wounded in Turkey Bus Blast, Erdogan Accuses PKK

Local Editor

A bus carrying off-duty soldiers has been hit by an explosion outside a university in the Turkish city of Kayseri, leaving 13 people dead and 48 wounded, the Turkish military said in a statement cited by Reuters.

A witness cited by Haberturk claimed that a car near the bus exploded.

A video tweeted from the scene shows several bodies lying on the ground beside the wrecked bus.

Speaking to reporters live on Turkish TV, Kaynak said that the attack had targeted a bus carrying off-duty soldiers.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has gone to the blast site in Kayseri, Hurriyet reports.

The Prime Minister's office had been informed of the blast, and Turkey's Radio and Television Supreme Council had issued a provisional publication ban on the explosion in Kayseri, NTV reports.

In a related context, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the militant Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] was responsible for the attack.

In a statement, Erdogan said the "separatist terrorist organization" was responsible for the attack, adding that such attacks were not independent of developments in Iraq and Syria.

Saturday's explosion comes only a week after a twin bombing outside an Istanbul soccer stadium killed over 40 people and wounded more than 100. That attack was claimed by Kurdish militants.

Turkey had suffered a series of bombings in 2016 at the hands of both Kurdish militants and Takfiris.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team