PKK attack in southeast Turkey kills 9, injures 100

The number of casualties has risen to nine people killed and 100 people wounded in the large explosion carried out by the PKK on Friday in a central district in the city of Diyarbakır, governor's office said.

In a written statement, the Diyarbakır Governor's office said that the blast occurred around 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) near a police facility in the Bağlar district.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said that two policemen and six civilians were martyred in the attack.

The Diyarbakır governorate stated that the PKK terror group claimed the responsibility of a car bomb attack.

The attack, reportedly a car bomb, exploded hours after police detained 11 lawmakers from the opposing People's Democratic Party (HDP).

The blast took place near a police station where apprehended lawmakers in Diyarbakır were taken, a security source said.

Overnight the police arrested the co-leaders of HDP Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ along with other nine people over a terrorism investigation.

PKK has been targeting both security forces and the civilians in the attacks it conduct across Turkey since July 2015, when the PKK ended the ceasefire.

Turkey has been conducting operations across the country against the PKK terrorist organization, as more than 8,000 PKK terrorists were killed by Turkish forces since that date.