Nine injured in car bomb explosion in southeast Turkey: Report

Ankara: A car bomb attack apparently targeting court officials in a town in Turkey's mainly-Kurdish southeast region injured at least nine people , the country's state-run news agency reported.

The explosion occurred close to housing for courthouse employees in the town of Ovacik, in Tunceli province, Anadolu Agency reported.

Three of the wounded were in serious condition. A police officer was also among those wounded, the report said.

The explosion cause several small fires which were quickly extinguished, Anadolu added.

Last week, two car bomb explosions, both claimed by Kurdish militants, killed 17 in Istanbul and the southern town of Midyat.

The militant group, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, which is considered an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for a car-bomb attack that targeted a police vehicle and killed six police officers and five civilians.

Istanbul's bombing was followed a day later by a suicide attack targeting the police headquarters in the southeastern town of Midyat that killed three police officers and three civilians.

Turkey's southeast region was plunged into violence last summer after peace talks between the state and the Kurdish rebels collapsed.