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 The overnight blast ripped the facade off the station in the small
town of Cinar. A Reuters reporter saw nearby windows blown out, shop
shutters mangled and streets covered in debris.
The mainly Kurdish region has suffered a surge in violence since a
two-year ceasefire between the state and Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) rebels collapsed, reviving an insurgency that has killed
40,000 people over three decades.
The conflict is a challenge to Turkey's security forces, which are
fighting on two fronts. On Tuesday, 10 German tourists were killed
in Istanbul in a suicide attack by a suspected Islamic State
militant.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a five-month-old baby was among
the dead in Cinar, vowing in a speech that Turkey would continue its
fight against "every kind of terror".
Security sources said a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old had also died,
along with a police officer and an unnamed fifth person, and 39
people were wounded, including six police.
 SEARCH FOR BODIES
PKK militants attacked the police station and adjoining
accommodation at around 11:30 p.m. (4.30 a.m. ET), the provincial
governor's office said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. As rescue workers
continued to search for bodies, the Reuters reporter saw a sixth
body being pulled from the wreckage. A security source said it was
that of a policeman's wife.
"It was a really loud blast, as if it was in our house," said Ali
Devran, a resident in his 30s. "We went and helped carry the wounded
to ambulances. Some had suffered burns."
A security source said 1.5 tonnes of explosives were used in the
blast.
Coinciding with the bomb attack, PKK fighters opened fire on a
nearby security complex, triggering a firefight, but no casualties
were reported, the statement said.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States
and the European Union, says it is fighting for autonomy and greater
rights for Turkey's Kurds.
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CURFEWS
Since it launched its insurgency in 1984, fighting has stayed
largely in the countryside, but the latest violence has focused on
urban areas, where the PKK youth wing has set up barricades and dug
trenches to keep out security forces.
Two towns on the Syrian and Iraqi borders, along with the Sur
district of the regional capital Diyarbakir, have been subjected to
round-the-clock curfew for more than a month amid operations by
security forces.
Civilians have been caught in the middle. Figures from the
pro-Kurdish HDP party show 87 civilians have been killed in Sur and
the two towns in that time.
Thousands have left their homes. Residents complain that the
operations have been indiscriminate and that the sick have been
prevented from getting to hospital.
In his speech, Davutoglu slammed a declaration signed by more than
1,100 academics criticizing security operations and calling for an
end to curfews and fresh peace efforts.
"It is saddening that our academics have signed such a declaration
when we are talking about the fight against terror, ISIS (Islamic
State) on one side and a separatist terror group that killed a baby
on the other," he said.
Prosecutors are investigating the signatories, who include foreign
academics such as U.S. philosopher Noam Chomsky, on suspicion of
spreading terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred.
(Additional reporting by Melih Aslan in Istanbul, Ercan Gurses in
Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and
Kevin Liffey)
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