Isis claims responsibility for Turkey car bomb attack, but government blames Kurdistan Workers Party

The Islamic State (Isis) has claimed the responsibility for the car bomb attack on the Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Friday (4 November) that left nine people dead and scores injured. However, Turkish authorities blamed the country's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for the blast.

The blast occurred outside a police station in Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeast Turkey, amid a crackdown on pro-Kurdish leaders in the country. Around 12 lawmakers from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested earlier in the day over alleged links to PKK, which Ankara regards as a terrorist group.

Hours after the blast, the terrorist group's Amaq news agency said in a report that fighters of IS (Daesh) "set off a car bomb parked in front of the headquarters of the Turkish police in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey". The news agency cited a "security source" in its report, Long War Journal reported.

However, a statement issued by the Diyarbakir provincial governor's office said that the PKK terrorist group staged the attack, which struck a building used by riot police officers in Baglar in Diyarbakir province, Turkey's Anadolu Agency reported.

The statement reportedly added that the blast target was a heavily populated area, mostly resided by students.

The agency quoted police sources as saying that the nine dead in the blast included two police officers and seven civilians. Earlier Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had said that around 100 people were injured in the powerful blast, but 93 of them were treated and discharged from hospital. He also said that one terrorist was killed in the blast, which he reportedly claimed was a PKK member.