ISTANBUL: A car bomb on Sunday struck the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a major refugee hub near the Syrian border, killing at least two policemen and wounding 22 people as the country reels from a succession of militant attacks.

On a day of violence dubbed “Black Sunday” by local media, three Turkish soldiers died in a separate attack in the province of Mardin to the east, in an ambush by Kurdish militants who have killed hundreds of security forces in a renewed insurgency since last year.

One policeman was killed when the car bomb went off outside the police headquarters in Gaziantep and 23 people were wounded, including 19 police, the office of Gazia­ntep regional governor Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement.

One more police officer later died of his wounds in hospital. The governor’s office statement did not say which group could be to blame.Turkish news reports said the investigation was focusing on the possibility the attack was carried out by the militants of the Islamic State (IS) who still control territory in Syria on the other side of the border.

Police arrested the father of a known IS member in the city, named as Ismail G., and were carrying out DNA tests to ascertain if the son was the perpetrator, the Hurriyet daily said.

One of the main cities of Turkey’s southeast, Gazian­tep has a population of around 1.5 million and is an important centre for refugees who have fled the war in neighbouring Syria.

The bombing comes with Turkey on edge after two dea­dly attacks in Istanbul this year blamed on IS militants and a pair of attacks in Ank­ara that were claimed by Kur­dish militants and killed dozens.

The latest attack in the heart of one of the country’s main urban centres is likely to further raise alarm about security in Turkey, which has seen tourism fall sharply since the start of the year.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2016