ISTANBUL, Turkey (3rd UPDATE) – A car bomb on Sunday, May 1, hit the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a major refugee hub near the Syrian border, killing at least two policemen and wounding 22 other people as the country reels from a succession of militant attacks.
On a day of violence dubbed "Black Sunday" by the press, 3 Turkish soldiers died in a separate attack in the province of Mardin to the east, in an ambush by Kurdish militants who have killed hundreds of security forces in a renewed insurgency since last year.
With Turkey on high alert for May Day celebrations, 4 suspected jihadists were detained in Ankara on suspicion of planning attacks and other May 1 events were cancelled elsewhere over security fears.
One policeman was killed when the car bomb went off outside the police headquarters in Gaziantep and 23 people were wounded, including 19 police, the office of Gaziantep regional governor Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement
One more policeman later died of his wounds in hospital. The governor's office statement did not say which group could be to blame.
'Link to ISIS jihadists'
Turkish news reports said the investigation was focusing on the possibility the attack was carried out by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists who still control territory in Syria on the other side of the border.
Police arrested the father of a known ISIS member in the city, named as Ismail G, and were carrying out DNA tests to ascertain if the son was the perpetrator, the Hurriyet daily said.
One of the main cities of Turkey's southeast, Gaziantep has a population of around 1.5 million and is an important center for refugees who have fled the war in neighbouring Syria.
The attack comes with Turkey on edge after two deadly attacks in Istanbul this year blamed on ISIS jihadists and a pair of attacks in Ankara that were claimed by Kurdish militants and killed dozens.
The latest attack in the heart of one of the country's main urban centers is likely to further raise alarm about security in Turkey, which has seen tourism fall sharply since the start of the year.
A top flight Turkish basketball league match between Fenerbahce of Istanbul and Gazinantep due to be played in the city Sunday afternoon was postponed after the attack.
A court rapidly imposed a ban on broadcasting scenes from the instant of the attack, as has been the case with previous strikes.
3 soldiers killed by PKK
Meanwhile 3 Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in the attack on Sunday in Kurdish-dominated Mardin province to the east of Gaziantep, which was carried out by PKK militants, the army said.
The attack took place in the Nusaybin district of Mardin, where the army has been conducting a military operation backed by a curfew against the PKK, it said.
The Dogan news agency said the PKK opened fire with rockets on an army bomb disposal team.
The PKK – which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than 3 decades – has killed hundreds of members of the security forces in the southeast since a truce collapsed last summer.
With all of Turkey on edge, a female suicide bomber on Wednesday blew herself up in the usually peaceful former Ottoman capital of Bursa, south of Istanbul.
Press reports have suggested a link with the PKK but the authorities have so far remained tight-lipped on which group was behind the Bursa attack.
New ISIS rocket strike on Kilis
Also on Sunday, 4 people were wounded in the Turkish town of Kilis, just south of Gaziantep on the Syrian border, by rockets fired from an ISIS-controlled area of Syria, Anatolia said.
Eighteen people, including Syrian refugees, have been killed in Kilis by ISIS rocket attacks since January, prompting anxiety and anger on the part of local residents.
Following reconnaissance by drones after the latest strikes, Turkish artillery hit ISIS positions in Syria on Sunday, Anatolia said, adding that 9 jihadists were killed.
Turkish police meanwhile detained 4 suspected Islamic State jihadists who were allegedly planning an attack on May Day celebrations in the capital Ankara, state media said.
Planned May Day events in the southern cities of Adana and Sanliurfa were also scrapped after the authorities reportedly received intelligence of a possible suicide bomb plot. – Stuart Williams, AFP / Rappler.com