Mersin Governor Hüseyin Aksoy told reporters the assailant detonated the bomb after police officers stopped his vehicle near a traffic police checkpoint. The assailant lost his life at the scene of the incident and 12 police officers were wounded in the explosion."One of the wounded police officers is in critical condition. We suspect a suicide bombing. The investigation is under way," Aksoy stated. The injured police officers were rushed to nearby hospitals for medical attention.
The white car destroyed in the blast had a license plate from the southeastern city of Gaziantep and was heading toward Mersin. Neither the identity of the assailant nor the suspected target of the attack was immediately clear.
Security measures were stepped up in the city after the attack. Yesterday's bomb attack came only one month after an armed attack on the US Consulate General in İstanbul in which three policemen and three gunmen were killed.
Benzer Haberler 
National
