Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Justice and Development Party (AKP) government spokesperson Numan Kurtulmuş has blamed the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for a bomb attack in the central province of Kayseri on Saturday.
At least 13 soldiers were killed and 56 others, including civilians, were injured in a car bomb attack on a bus carrying off-duty soldiers and civilians on Saturday morning in Kayseri.
The explosion occurred just as the bus drove past a car carrying explosives. The bomb exploded at an entrance gate to Erciyes University.
“All signs point to the PKK,” Kurtulmuş told NTV on Saturday afternoon.
He said the attack was very similar to twin bomb attacks in İstanbul last Saturday that claimed the lives of 44 people and injured 166 others.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), an offshoot of the PKK, on Sunday claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in İstanbul.
Turkish authorities had conducted direct talks with jailed PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan for several years until a truce in effect collapsed in the summer of 2015. Since then, there have been heavy clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces.
More than 40,000 people, including 5,500 security force members, have been killed in four decades of fighting between the Turkish state and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.