Turkish bomb blast kills 13 troops, wounds 55

ISTANBUL: A car bomb blast killed 13 Turkish troops and wounded 55 persons, most of them military personnel, in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri on Saturday morning, according to official figures. In a statement, the Turkish armed forces said the car bomb went off at 8:45 am and targeted on-leave military personnel from the Kayseri Commando Brigade. The army said 48 troops were wounded and said that civilian citizens may have also been hurt in the “treacherous act.” Speaking in Kayseri shortly after the A public bus is burning at the scene of a car bomb attack in central Anatolian city of Kayseri, Turkey on Saturday. (PTI) blast, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 55 people had been wounded in total and that six were in critical condition. “We are determined in our fight against terrorism,” the minister said. Speaking alongside him at a joint press conference, Turkish Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar vowed to continue the “fight against terrorists inside and outside the country” until “every last terrorist is neutralized.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the car bomb went off at an entrance gate of Erciyes University, hitting a public transportation bus that included on-leave soldiers among its passengers. Images taken moments after the explosion showed a smoking public bus, still in flames, with its windows blown open and its interior blackened. The blast comes a week after a car bomb struck riot police posted outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul following a match. That attack killed 44 people, mostly police officers, and wounded scores of others. Kurdish militants, who tend to target military and police, claimed the Istanbul attack. (AP)