Turkey: Semdinli car bomb attack kills 11-year-old child
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of Parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara on May 29, 2012. Turkey on Wednesday announced the expulsion of all Syrian diplomats in the country.
An 11-year-old child was killed in a car bomb attack in Turkey's southeastern town of Semdinli today, prompting condemnation from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the Associated Press.
More from GlobalPost: Bomb rattles Damascus as Syrian opposition meets in Qatar
At least 12 people were reported wounded in the blast, which the Turkish leader quickly blamed on the radical Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said AP.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by many Western countries as well as Turkey, which has been locked in a decades-long guerilla war with the militant group that has taken some 40,000 lives.
The town of Semdinli, which lies near Turkey's Iran-Iraq border, is a flashpoint for militant-lead violence, said Agence-France Press. Violence between insurgents and Turkish forces has been on the rise in recent months.
Erdogan today denounced the "heinous attack" in Semdinli, which reportedly hit as a police vehicle passed by, according to local press cited by AFP.
The town's electricity was shut off following the incident, said Reuters.
The attack came as Turkish police reportedly used tear gas and water cannons to break up a large pro-Kurdish protest in Istanbul, according to AFP.