Bomb attack targeting police rocks Turkish city of Diyarbakir

A bomb believed to be targeting police rocked the majority-Kurdish Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Tuesday, causing several casualties.

The explosion went off in the city-centre Baglar district and was a "terrorist" attack, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. The Dogan news agency added that several people were wounded.

Diyarbakir and its surrounding region have in recent months been hit by repeated attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as the military presses a relentless offensive against the Kurdish militants.

Earlier on Tuesday, two police officers were killed while attempting to defuse a roadside bomb in the eastern Turkish province of Van, the Anadolu Agency said. The agency blamed the deaths on the PKK.

Ankara and its allies consider the PKK a terrorist organisation, and the agency said air-backed operations were underway to hunt down Kurdish rebels in Van.

The PKK, which wants greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurds, has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed 40,000 lives.

Agencies contributed to this report