Two police officers were killed and at least 18 police officers were wounded in addition to four civilians who also were injured in a terror attack on a police headquarters Sunday morning in southeastern Turkey at 9:20 am.
Two cars entered the area in front of the police station and opened fire with automatic weapons, according to a report by the Hurriyet daily newspaper.
One of the cars then exploded, while the second vehicle managed to escape, as officers returned fire. The police headquarters is located near several government buildings, including those of the provincial governor and the city’s mayor; it is likely the attackers were aiming at bigger targets.
The attack took place in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, where a number of terror cells from various organizations – including Da’esh (ISIS) – are known to exist. The blast was heard several kilometers away.
Turkish police later raided the home of a suspected member of Da’esh (ISIS), who was believed to have carried out the attack. His father was taken into custody and held for DNA testing.
Also in southeastern Turkey, 10 police officers were wounded in a bombing blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK terrorist organization. The terrorists bombed a police station in the southeastern town of Dicle, according to security sources quoted by the Daily Sabah newspaper.
In relation to a separate attack, the PKK-linked Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) terror group claimed responsibility late Sunday for a suicide bombing attack near the historic Grand Mosque last Wednesday. At least 13 people were wounded in that attack, which took place in the western province of Bursa. The bomber, a woman, had detonated before reaching her target according to the group, and had died in the blast.
In Ankara, police detained four suspected Da’esh members on Sunday, according to the Anadolu news agency. Turkish authorities said the four were believed to have been plotting an attack to take place during Sunday’s ‘May Day’ parades in the city.
In Istanbul, police dispersed protesters staging a May Day rally in the city’s iconic Taksim Square. More than 25,000 police officers were deployed to secure the city for May Day.
Turkey deploys thousands of police to fight terror in its cities, and hundreds of police have died just in the past year battling against the PKK terrorist organization.
Yet with all of the above, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains willing to sacrifice diplomatic relations with Israel on the altar of Turkey’s “brotherhood” with the Hamas terror group, and again insist that Israel end its blockade of Gaza, a national security issue for the Jewish State.
Perhaps Israel should insist instead that Turkey end its attacks on the PKK and grant independence to “Kurdistan” in the southeast.