WordBulletin

World Bulletin / News Desk

Flights at the main airport in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır continued despite a call for a brief postponement as bomb disposal units detonated a bomb planted on a bridge at the entrance of Çarıklı village, near the airport's runways.

Upon a tipoff, security forces began an operation to locate and defuse the bomb, which was reportedly planted by the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) near the airport.

At around 9:00 a.m. on Thursday the main road between Diyarbakır and the neighboring province of Mardin was closed by police. Bomb disposal units and security units rushed to the area with vehicles loaded with jamming devices to prevent remote detonation of the bomb. Special forces units took positions in the surrounding hills for security measures and to check the road. A police helicopter took up a position over the bridge to monitor the area.

The Diyarbakır Police Department contacted the Diyarbakır Second Air Fleet Command, officials of the Diyarbakır airport and the Eighth Main Jet Base Command to ensure both military and civilian flights were postponed as the bridge, under which a large amount of explosives were planted, is close to runways. However, Turkey's General Directorate for Airport Management announced later in the day that there had been no delay in flights.

Bomb disposal experts successfully defused the bomb after intense efforts lasting more than two hours.

Civilian flights in Diyarbakır operate through a facility at the province's military airport.