Bomb blast kills 11, including 5 children, in Turkey

Turkish police set up checkpoints on roads leading out of Diyarbakir on Wednesday in a major search operation for those behind a bomb explosion that killed 11 people, five of them children.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast late on Tuesday at a bus stop in the largest city in Turkey's southeast region, the focus of a 22-year conflict between the state and rebels fighting for a Kurdish state.

Hospitals were treating 13 people wounded in the explosion, which occurred on a main street next to a park. On Tuesday, authorities put the death toll at seven but the number rose to 11 overnight.

Witnesses said the blast, apparently triggered by a mobile phone, tore a hole half a metre across on the pavement and shattered the windows of nearby houses and offices. Firemen cleaned up bloodstains at the site.

"When I looked out I saw a bloodbath. Everyone wanted help. But there was no sound coming from some of the children whom I saw," said resident Mahmut Coban, who was sitting at home when the blast occurred.

Police said they believed the device was set off by mistake and it might have been intended for police headquarters 1.5 km away.

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