Suicide Bombing Targets Central Turkey

Suspected suicide attackers have set off a car bomb near a police station in central Turkey, killing one policeman and wounding nearly 20 civilians.

Turkey's interior minister, Idris Naim Sahin, said two suspects sped through a checkpoint Friday and detonated the bomb outside a police station in the town of Pinarbasi in Kayseri province.

Sahin said police spotted the car in neighboring Kahramanmaras province, where it ignored calls to stop at the checkpoint. He said security forces opened fire as the car approached the police station in Pinarbasi, before the bomb went off.

Sahin earlier said two police officers died, but later indicated that doctors had saved one of them.

Both of the attackers were killed in the incident.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sahin hinted that Kurdish rebels might have been behind the attack. He also said the "crazy acts" of a terrorist group are continuing, in apparent reference to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

PKK rebels have been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey for nearly three decades. The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist group.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.