2 bombers blow themselves up after police stop in Turkey

“The organization they are connected to is not clear yet but according to information we have received, it is highly likely that (the man) is linked to the PKK. The way the incident was carried out and planned points at the PKK,” he said.

Topaca said the pair would have carried out a suicide car bomb attack although their target was not known. The assailants had hung a Turkish flag on their car, in an apparent attempt to disguise themselves, he said.

Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks since last summer that have killed hundreds of people and been blamed on either the PKK or the Islamic State group.

Fighting between the PKK and the state security forces resumed last year after the collapse of a fragile 2 1/2-year cease-fire. Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed in clashes, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the clashes.

On Thursday, 10 people were slightly wounded by a bomb mounted on a motorcycle which exploded near a police station in Istanbul. On Friday the militant Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, considered an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility. Six people have been detained in connection with that attack.

The deadliest attack took place in Ankara on Oct. 10, 2015, killing 103 people attending a peace rally — including many Kurdish activists. Authorities blamed that attack on the Islamic State group.

Ankara police on Friday announced a ban on all public assemblies city-wide on Monday, the anniversary of the attack.

Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

2 bombers blow themselves up after police stop in Turkey

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