Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

i24 News – A police officer was killed late Monday when a bomb exploded near a residence building in Turkey’s southern province of Mersin, according to the country’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

He said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was responsible for the attack, which happened around 10:40 p.m. The two women who carried out the attack died in the explosions.

They first shot the police officer on duty and then detonated bombs attached to their bodies, the minister said. Another policeman was wounded.

The attack took place in Mezitli district in Mersin, the state-run Anadolu agency said.

The PKK launched an insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, and more than 40,000 people have been killed in this conflict. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to “freeze” the NATO membership bids of both Sweden and Finland, accusing them of providing a haven for outlawed Kurdish militants.