Adana, bus full of policemen bombed: at least five wounded
The bomb exploded this morning as agents passed through the southern Turkish province. The wounded would not be in serious condition. At the moment there are still no official claims for the attack. The Turkish magistrates issue a new arrest warrant for Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas.
Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A car bomb hit a busload of policemen in the province of Adana in southern Turkey this morning. According to reports from Ankara security sources, the explosion would have caused at least five wounded even though there is still no official toll and the figure could increase in the coming hours.
The Turkish CNN has released a video showing a seriously damged bus, surrounded by debris and other cars hit by the explosion under a pedestrian overpass in the area of Yuregir, in Adana.
Eyewitnesses report that several ambulances have transported the injured to local hospitals. Initial comments from the local governor Mahmut Demirtas, reported by the official Anadolu agency say the wounded are not in a serious condition.
Several police officers, in riot gear, have surrounded the area of the attackand are examining the findings, to clarify the dynamics and trace possible authors. At the moment there are no official claims of the attack, although the most probable path appears to be that of the Kurdish separatists of the PKK, the outlawed Kurdish workers party whose leader Abdullah Öcalan has been in prison since 1999.
However, even the tracks leading to jihadist groups active in the country or the extreme left-wing militant groups cannot be excluded.
Last week a rudimentary device hit a bus of workers in the mostly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir, in the south-east, causing at least seven deaths and 10 wounded. At that juncture, the Kurdish PKK separatists were behind the explosion.
Meanwhile, in recent days a Turkish court has blocked the release of Kurdish parliamentarian Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the Democratic People's Party (HDP). At the time of his release, the prosecutor issued a new arrest warrant based on the results of a new investigation, in which he is allegedly accused of "terrorism".
Demirtas, one of the country's leading politicians, has spent the last three years in prison and must respond to various accusations, including terrorism, which he strongly denies. If found guilty, he faces up to 142 years in prison. At the beginning of the month, a court ordered the release pending the conclusion of the trial procedure; on September 20, his lawyer had filed for his release.
However, Turkish magistrates - some of whom are close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and who since the failed coup of 2016 have ordered tens of thousands of arrests of activists and opponents - have opened a new investigation file on him and his ally Figen Yuksekdag. The judges also requested the provision of custody in prison pending the closure of the investigation.
In a note entrusted to news agencies, the leaders of the Kurdish HDP party speak of a "political conspiracy" ordered by the Turkish government in search for "political revenge". They call the new arrest of Demirtas and Yuksekdag "legal bullying" and "massacre of the principles of universal law".
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