Police in Diyarbakir have released CCTV footage showing the moment a car bomb exploded killed seven police officers and wounded 27 people in the largest city of mainly Kurdish south-east Turkey.

Footage released late on 31 March shows a huge blast sending plumes of smoke into the sky. A parked car laden with explosives was detonated by remote control as a minibus carrying the police officers turned a corner on a busy street, Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz said, adding that civilians were also among the wounded. The attack was carried out a day before the prime minister was due to visit the city.

Yilmaz said: "A terrorist attack was carried out with a car bomb on a police bus carrying special forces. As of this moment, according to the information we received, seven policemen were martyred and 13 policemen were wounded. One of them is said to be in critical condition. Fourteen civilians are also among the wounded."

He denounced the attack, saying it was carried out against the people of Diyarbakir. The south-east has been scorched by violence since a ceasefire between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the government collapsed last July. The government has said it has killed thousands of militants since then, while more than 350 members of the security forces have been killed in the fighting.

Round-the-clock curfews have been placed in parts of the south-east, where the economy has also been devastated by the fighting. One of the hardest hit areas has been Diyarbakir's historic Sur district, which is encircled by Unesco-listed, Roman-era walls. The government has announced an ambitious restoration plan for the south-east.

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