Militants from Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s deadly attack on a police station in southeastern Mardin province that left six people dead.
“A major suicide attack was carried out on the police headquarters of the fascist state forces in Midyat town of Mardin [province] by our comrade," the PKK said in a statement posted to its website.
The attack left in the mainly Kurdish town of Midyat left more than 30 people wounded.
The PKK has been targeting Turkish police and military in its struggle for autonomy in Turkey's southeast since the collapse of a cease-fire agreement nearly a year ago.
Istanbul bombing
Separately, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Istanbul Tuesday that killed 11 people. The car bomb exploded near a police bus in central Istanbul during morning rush hour.
In a statement on its website, the TAK said the bombing was an attempt to show that Turkey is no longer safe for tourists.
"We again warn foreign tourists who are in Turkey and who want to come to Turkey: foreigners are not our target but Turkey is no longer a reliable country for them," the statement said.
An estimated 500 Turkish security personnel have been killed while fighting with the Kurdish rebels, according to the military, which claims to have killed up to 4,900 PKK militants in Turkey and northern Iraq.
