12 July 2016•Update: 12 July 2016
By Gultekin Yetgin, Atakan Citlak
GIRESUN, Turkey
Three policemen were injured when a gun attack, targeting a police vehicle, was followed by an explosion in northeastern Turkey, authorities said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Tuesday, the governor of Giresun province, Hasan Karahan, said shots were fired against a police vehicle on late Monday, slightly injuring one police officer in the Dereli district of Giresun, located in the Black Sea region of northeastern Turkey.
Minutes later, an explosion occurred at around 23:00 p.m. local time (2000GMT) when a police team was investigating the gun attack against the police vehicle. Two more policemen were injured in the blast.
Karahan said a bomb, hidden near the scene of the gun attack, was accidentally detonated when the policemen stepped on it. The two injured have been transferred to the Giresun state hospital. Their lives are not in danger, according to Karahan.
"We believe that the perpetrators of this attack are PKK terrorists in [Giresun]," Karahan said.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.
Since then, nearly 600 security personnel, including troops, police officers and village guards have been martyred and more than 5,000 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.
*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Fatma Bulbul contributed to this report from Istanbul.
