Three killed in police HQ bomb blast in Turkey

The explosion, blamed by the Defence Minister Fikri Isik on the outlawed Kurdistan Works' Party [PKK], happened in the garden of the four-storey building in Elazig.

It caused severe damage to the building, with a large plume of black smoke rising from the headquarters and cars parked nearby catching fire.

"We will thwart the PKK like we thwarted FETO," he said, referring to Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for the attempted coup last month.

The PKK has kept up its assaults in recent weeks after the unsuccessful July 15 coup by rogue elements in the military aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Another car bombing attack hit a police station in the eastern province of Van, late Wednesday, killing one police office and two civilians.

Dozens of other people, including around 20 police officers were wounded in the attack, officials said.

Another five police officers and three civilians were killed on Monday in a PKK car bomb attack on a police traffic control building on a highway leading southeast from Diyarbakir.

Clashes between the PKK and Turkey's security forces resumed last year after a fragile peace process collapsed.

Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also died in the clashes.

Agencies contributed to this report