Truck bomb explosion leaves scores dead in Turkey

At least nine people were killed and 64 others injured after a truck bomb struck a police checkpoint in the Turkish border town of Cizre on Friday. Although no group claimed responsibility for the strike, suspicion fell on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (P.K.K.), which has carried out a string of attacks in the country since a ceasefire deal between it and the government collapsed last year.

Gunfire broke out between the police and attackers after the powerful explosion, notes Al Jazeera. Helicopters and ambulances were rushed to the site of attack, as first responders sifted through the wreckage to rescue the injured.

The strike comes a day after Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the group of attacking opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s convoy, reports Reuters. The P.K.K., which launched an armed offensive against the state in 1984, has been declared a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Last week, Turkish tanks entered Syria and warned a Kurdish militia to withdraw from frontlines as a fierce battle continued between pro-Ankara Syrian opposition fighters and Islamic State militants, writes The Guardian.