3 killed in suicide attack on Turkish ruling party offices

Oct 29, 2011, 17:31 GMT

Ankara - A bomber blew herself up Saturday in front of the office of the ruling Justice and Development Party in the eastern Turkish city of Bingol, killing two other people and wounding 20, an official said.

Bingol Governor Mustafa Hakan Guvencer said the bomber killed a woman and a man, as well as herself, the semi-official Anatolian Agency reported. One of the wounded was 'in grave condition,' he said.

The bomber detonated her explosives in Youth Street in a busy shopping area of the eastern Anatolia city, about 250 kilometres west of the epicentre of the earthquake that killed 582 people on October 23.

Images on Turkish broadcaster NTV showed heavy damage to a pharmacy and toy shop. The building bore a sign reading 'provincial offices of the AK Party' on the upper floors.

The governor said the explosion was being investigated. Immediate suspicion fell on the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been waging an insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984.

Interior Minister Naim Shahin said in a statement that there had been a bombing, causing one death and 10 injuries, and that the wounded had been taken to hospital. However, broadcasters continued to report higher tolls of dead and injured.

Meanwhile, about 320 kilometres to the southeast of Bingol, security forces faced another possible attack. A lone donkey was approaching a checkpoint on the Hakkari-to-Van highway, with something strapped on it.

Gendarmes shot the donkey, activated radio jammers and called in military engineers, the Anatolian Agency reported. The engineers found the donkey was loaded with A4 plastic explosives - a type often used by the PKK - and a remote-controlled detonator. They then performed a controlled explosion.