Kurdish car bomb kills child in Turkey

Kurdish rebels have detonated a car bomb in south-east Turkey, killing an 11-year-old child and wounding 18 other people.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the explosion occurred as an armoured police vehicle was travelling on a road in the town of Semdinli, near the border with Iraq. The bomb went off close to a wedding celebration.

Erdogan blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s south-east and is active in Semdinli.

The attack comes amid a surge in violence by the rebels in recent months. Hundreds of Kurdish inmates are on a hunger strike to demand increased rights for Kurds.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984.