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Bloody Week in Turkey as PKK Targets Four Areas | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Emergency services work at the explosion site in the busy center of Turkish capital, Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, March 13, 2016. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a car bomb that went off close to bus stops. News reports say the large explosion in the capital has caused several deaths and many casualties. (AP Photo) The Associated Press


Ankara- A wave of bombings hit Turkey over the past two days, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 220 others.

The explosions, which mainly targeted the country’s security forces, were blamed on Kurdish rebels, according to state officials.

Turkish authorities confirmed that the attacks were perpetrated by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has launched a campaign of car bombings targeting police stations or roadside bomb attacks against security force vehicles.

Last week, PKK commander Cemil Bayik threatened increased attacks against police in Turkish cities.

A bomb detonated near a police station in the city of Elazig on Thursday morning, hours after another car bomb exploded near the borders with Iran.

On the same day, a roadside bomb targeted a military vehicle carrying soldiers through the southeast of the country.

On Wednesday night, three people were killed and 73 others injured in car bomb explosion near a police station in the eastern province of Van near the Iranian border.

Turkey’s Defense Minister Fikri Isik blamed the PKK for the attacks.

In comments to reporters, the minister said: “The people see the real face of the PKK.”

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that both the PKK and the Gulen movement were directed by the same intent on causing Turkey harm.

Speaking in Elazig during a visit to the site of the bombing, the Turkish premier said: “The (Gulen movement) has lost its assertiveness and has handed over the duty to the (PKK).”

“The intelligence that directs them is the same. When one’s duty ends, the other takes up the duty,” he added.

Yildirim vowed to fight the PKK until it is “eliminated.” He went on to say that “no terror organization will force this nation to cow in submission.”

Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict since the PKK took up arms for autonomy in southeast Turkey in 1984. Turkey and its allies consider the PKK a terrorist organization.