'Suicide bomber attacks paramilitary building in Turkey'

Blast goes off outside of Antalya paramilitary building in southern Turkey; no casualties reported.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Ankara blast R 311 (photo credit: REUTERS/ Omer Kaya)
Ankara blast R 311
(photo credit: REUTERS/ Omer Kaya)
A suicide bomber blew himself up outside of a paramilitary building in the southern Turkish city of Antalya on Friday, killing himself and wounding several others, Turkish news site Today's Zaman reported.
CNN Turk said the explosion had taken place in front of a paramilitary gendarmerie headquarters building. TV images from Dogan, a private Turkish news agency, showed the blast site near a paramilitary checkpoint at the entrance to Goynuk town, on the outskirts of Antalya on Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast.
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According to Turkish media, the attack may have been carried out by an offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) citing threats from the group to carry out attacks on "civilians and tourists." Antalya is a popular tourist resort on Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast.
"An explosion, the cause of which is still unknown, took place in a residential area far from any tourist area, killing one person whose identity is also still unknown," Antalya's deputy governor Recep Yuksel told Anatolian.
Anatolian said a large security perimeter had been formed around the area.
An explosion ripped through a line of parked cars in the Turkish capital Ankara earlier this month, killing three people and wounding at least 15 others, the BBC reported.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a group connected to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas claimed responsibility for that attack and threatened more raids in Turkish cities.
“This is an attack that did not focus on a specific target,” the New York Times quoted Turkish Interior Minister Naim Sahim as saying.
“Anyone could be a target, and there is no divide between babies or elderly, police or regular citizens. The target is the Turkish citizen and Turkey as a whole.”
The blast struck the Kizilay neighborhood less than a kilometer from government buildings, including the prime minister's office, headquarters of the chief of general staff and several ministries.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also suggested the blast was caused by a bomb, although Ankara's governor said it may have been caused by a burning gas cylinder.
"I've been informed that there was an explosion in a car on Kumrular Street, close to the PM's office, and there are heavy casualties," Arinc said. It was "either known or understood" the blast was caused by a bomb, he added.
A plume of thick smoke rose above the heart of the city after the blast. Reuters reporters at the scene said a line of parked vehicles had been destroyed and an adjacent row of shops was damaged across the street from a primary school.
Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the scene and police set up a security cordon while bomb disposal teams' sniffer dogs searched for any possible secondary device.
Ankara governor Alaaddin Yuksel said a witness had reported that the blast was caused by a burning gas cylinder thrown into the street, which caused a fire that blew up a car. The incident was under investigation, he added.