A roadside car bomb attack Dec. 16 on a Turkish police van slightly injured nine people in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, Turkish authorities said.

The explosives-laden car blew up as the police shuttle was passing by at around 5 a.m. local time in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said all nine injured, including eight police officers and one civilian personnel, were discharged from hospital.

Soylu pointed the finger at the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), saying five people were detained over suspected links to the attack. The armed outfit that has fought Ankara since 1984 is designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and the majority of Western capitals.

Speaking at the scene of the explosion Soylu said, “The terrorist organization that is aiming to disrupt our peace and security and cause fear and horror will not be allowed” to conduct such attacks.

Soylu noted that one of the detainees had confessed to planting the explosives-laden car on the road. He described the suspect as “someone whose brother was killed by Turkish forces in 2004 while he was within the terrorist organization's ranks."

The interior minister also said the car that was used in the attack was rented and that the explosive appeared to have been remotely detonated.

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