10 Hurt in Bomb Attack Near Istanbul Police Station

Turkey has been rocked by a wave of deadly bomb attacks in the past year

A bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded Thursday near a police station in Istanbul, wounding at least 10 people, a senior official said.

Vasip Sahin, the governor for Istanbul, told reporters at the scene in the Yenibosna district that none of the injured was in serious condition, retracting an earlier statement that one person was seriously hurt.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which could be heard from the city's nearby Ataturk Airport. Sahin said the investigation was ongoing and of the victims Thursday were civilians.

The private Dogan news agency said police were searching for a person spotted leaving the scene carrying a motorcycle helmet.

Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks in the past year that have killed hundreds of people and been blamed on Kurdish rebels or Islamic State group militants.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been waging a three-decade long insurgency, has been targeting police and military in its campaign for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey.

A fragile 2 ½-year cease-fire between Turkey and the PKK collapsed last summer. Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed in clashes, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the clashes.

The Dogan news agency said several parked cars and nearby windows were damaged in the blast.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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