Suicide car bomb attack kills 4 in Turkish town; PKK blamed

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Kurdish rebel suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside a police headquarters near Turkey's border with Syria today, killing four other people, according to Turkish officials.

An Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said two civilians and two women police officers were killed, in addition to the bomber.

The attack in the town of Midyat, in Mardin province, came amid a surge in violence in the country and a day after a car bomb hit a police vehicle in Istanbul, killing 11 people during the morning rush hour. It took place as funerals for the Istanbul victims were underway.

The Interior Ministry official said authorities had strong evidence indicating that the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had carried out both Tuesday's attack in Istanbul and the today's bombing in Mardin.

Asked about the attack in Midyat, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the "murderous PKK organization" was behind it. However, Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, later said the prime minister had meant that the PKK had carried out the Istanbul attack, adding that it was too early to say for certain who was responsible for the bombing in Midyat.