Local AK Party politician targeted in SE Turkey

By Yilmaz Kazandioglu

HAKKARI, Turkey

The car of a local politician from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party exploded, a security source said late Wednesday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking with the media, said that the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device under the car which belonged to Salih Kahraman, deputy head of AK Party’s Hakkari provincial branch in southeastern Turkey.

The car was parked in front of Kahraman’s house and there were no causalities, only damage to the car and houses around it, the source added.

Earlier this year, PKK attacks killed two AK Party deputy chairs in eastern and southeastern Turkey. Aydin Ahi, deputy chairman in Van province's Ozalp district, was kidnapped and shot dead. Hours earlier, the party’s deputy chairman in Diyarbakir province's Lice district, Orhan Mercan, was shot in front of his house. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015.

Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of some 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.