Many killed in explosion at police headquarters in Turkey

(Image credit: MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 26 August 2016

An explosion ripped through a police checkpoint and headquarters in the town of Cizre, Turkey, on Friday.

Turkish media reports said at least 11 people were killed and 78 wounded in the attack, which was carried out with an explosives-filled truck. The city is in Sirnak province, which borders Syria and Iraq, and a majority of residents are Kurds. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). On Thursday, Turkish forces crossed into Syria to attack the Islamic State but also to prevent the Kurdish YPG militias from gaining territory along the Turkish border, and Turkish troops fired on YPG fighters in the area. (This story has been updated throughout.)

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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