Car bomb attack kills 13 soldiers in Turkey

A car bomb attack has exploded outside a university in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, killing 13 soldiers and injuring at least 55 other people.

The blast occurred as a bus carrying soldiers was passing by at a bus stop at the campus of Erciyes University on Saturday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the casualty figures in a statement later on Saturday.

Erdogan also said that a “separatist terrorist organization” was responsible for the bombing, a phrase that is usually used by Turkish officials to refer to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK.

Broadcaster NTV said the bus was carrying both off-duty soldiers and civilians when it was hit by the blast.

The Turkish army said civilians may have also been injured in the blast.

The office of Turkey’s prime minister imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the explosion and urged the media to refrain from publishing anything that may caused “fear in the public, panic and disorder and which may serve the aims of terrorist organizations.”

Local news agency Dogan said the bus was hit by the explosion as it drove past a car that is believed to have been laden with explosives.

Last Saturday, a twin bombing outside a soccer stadium in the Turkish city of Istanbul killed some 40 people and wounded over 100 others.

A Kurdish militant group known as the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, claimed responsibility for the Istanbul attacks. TAK is believed to be a splinter group of the PKK.

The Turkish government has been effectively in war with the PKK and similar Kurdish militant groups, which Ankara considers a threat to the state.

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