Turkish officials say a car bomb killed three people and wounded 45 others in the mainly-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
The explosion struck a police vehicle transporting seven suspected militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for medical treatment, accompanied by nine police officers.
The seven PKK suspects were detained for allegedly seizing a factory in Diyarbakir, the governor's office said in a statement without providing details.
The three victims were seriously wounded in the attack and later died in a hospital, the statement said. It was not immediately clear if the dead included any of the PKK suspects or police officers.
Twelve police officers and 33 civilians were wounded in the attack, including people who were passing by or sitting at a nearby open-air cafe, according to governor’s statement.
Kurdish rebels have been targeting police and military targets since July.
Earlier Tuesday, two police officers were killed while working to defuse a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Van, Turkish media reported, blaming the fatalities on the PKK.
The PKK's decades-long insurgency for greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurds has claimed 40,000 lives.
VOA’s Turkish Service contributed to this report
