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Istanbul /AFP
A Kurdish militant group that has carried out a string of attacks in Turkey this year on Sunday claimed a bombing on the southeastern city of Diyarbakir that killed 11, a report said.
The claim by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), seen as an splinter group of the better-known Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), came after a news agency affiliated to IS extremists said they staged the strike.
The TAK issued a statement published by the Firat news agency, seen as close to Kurdish militants, saying the suicide bombing was executed by one of its militants named Kamal Hakkari.
It was a response to the “murderous policies” and “inexorable pressure” of the government in the southeast of the country, the statement said.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had blamed the attack on Friday close to a police headquarters on the PKK.
But the US-based SITE Intelligence Group cited an “insider source” for the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency as saying “fighters from the IS detonated an explosives-laden vehicle.”
The local governorate in Diyarbakir on Saturday then issued a new statement insisting the bombing was carried out by the PKK, saying this conclusion was based on intercepted radio conversations.