Bomb Injures 10 Police near Turkey Ruling Party HQ

A remote control bomb injured 10 police officers on Thursday as their vehicle passed close to the Istanbul headquarters of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, Turkish police said, Reuters reports.

Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said the device was placed on a motorcycle and set off by remote control as a police vehicle drove past, near the AK Party building and the offices of a conservative business association.

“As a police vehicle carrying 21 officers was passing by, a remote control bomb on a motorcycle exploded. Our teams are carrying out the investigation. Ten policemen were wounded, but none of them are in critical condition,” Capkin told reporters.

Kurdish separatists, far left groups, far right groups and Islamist militants, including al Qaeda, have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.

“There are wounded people, many ambulances are coming here after the explosion,” a witness told Reuters.

“It was a very strong explosion like an earthquake,” another witness told CNN Turk television.

Fire engines and police vehicles surrounded the area, and shattered glass from nearby buildings littered the streets near the scene of the explosion in Istanbul’s Sutluce district.