One police officer killed in suicide bomb attack in southern Türkiye

Photo: AA

One police officer was killed and another wounded in a bomb and armed attack on the police last night (September 26) in the Mediterranean city of Mersin.

The attack by two women targeted the Tece Police House, an accommodation facility for police officers in the Mezitli district.

The militants arrived near the Police House with a car, approached the security checkpoint on foot and opened fire at the officers there, security camera footage released to the media showed.

Both women were wounded after the police returned fire. They then detonated the explosives in their backpacks and were killed instantly.

Two officers were wounded in the explosions and one of them, Sedat Gezer, 47, later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital, according to a statement from the Ministry of Interior.

One of the suspects, Dilşah Ercan, had been found to be a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said the statement.

She was a former journalist, working for the Azadiya Welat newspaper. She joined the "rural organization" of the PKK in 2013, according to the ministry.

Three civilians were also injured in the attack, said Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, who flew to Mersin and visited the Police House after the incident.

One of them was hit by a bullet while they were on the balcony of their apartment, and two were injured after jumping from high places after hearing the explosions, according to the minister. None of them had life-threatening injuries, he added.

Reactions

Politicians and rights grpups condemnded the attack.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), tweeted, "I wish God's mercy for our police officer who martyred in the vile terrorist attack against the police house in Mersin ...  a speedy recovery to our injured officer, and once again condemn terrorism."

Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair of the Kurdish-issue focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), also condemned the attack on Twitter.

"The responsibility of the politics is to insist on non-violent solutions. To stop deaths. We will oppose every kind of violence, and insist on democratic politics. I'd like this to be known by everyone," he said.

Later, HDP Co-Chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar also released a written statement condemning the attack.

"In the days we are approaching the elections, we cannot remain silent in the face of the eagerness of those who intend to use a new wave of violence and provocations like they did in the June-November 2015 period," they said, referring to the conflict in the country's Kurdish regions between the two elections in 2015.

"As the HDP, we will insist on defending and practicing democratic politics," they added.

The Human Rights Association (İHD) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV/HRFT) also denounced the attack in separate statements. (VK)