Terrorists Strike in Turkey, Kill Four Injure 52
CNN reports that “[a]t least four people have been killed and 52 injured — six critically — after a car bomb exploded in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir Thursday.”
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that terrorists were behind the attack (which seems logical to me). Diyarbakir is, as I understand it, a city with quite some Kurds living there, giving one the impression that it was probably the PKK.
“Security officials told CNN Turk that a car bomb was detonated by remote control during a military convoy’s passage through a busy section of the city center,” CNN reports. The network adds that “[s]ome local media sources later put the number of dead as high as five, with 68 wounded, including 30 troops.”
If the PKK is indeed behind the attack expect Turks to demand of their government to take aggressive action against the PKK in Iraq - more aggressive action, and on a bigger scale, than Turkey has done thus far.
And rightfully so.
Short of PKK admitting responsibility it is hard to know for sure if PKK is behind it.
But even if PKK says it is behind it, escalation carries its own risk which PKK is counting on.
Restraint followed by diplomacy is better than escalation at any time. We can consider Israel even Afghanistan as an example.