Explosion at Turkish workshop kills 1; officials suspect it was caused by repair work

An explosion inside a workshop where a police armored vehicle was being repaired killed one man and injured a number of other people, Turkish police said Tuesday.

The blast in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir caused part of the workshop — an annex to the city’s main police headquarters — to collapse.

One repair worker, who was trapped beneath the debris, died in a hospital, the Diyarbakir governor’s office said. It said other people had been hospitalized but did not provide a number.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu suggested, however, that the blast was caused by the repair work and was not the result of an attack.

“There was no external intervention,” he said.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said surrounding buildings and cars parked nearby were damaged.

Ambulances, police and rescue teams rushed to the scene in the city’s Baglar district, where thick smoke was seen rising into the air.

Turkey is on edge following a string of deadly bomb attacks carried out by Kurdish rebels or Islamic State militants in the past two years.

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UPDATES:

5:13 a.m.: Updated with details on the victims and suspected cause.

1:45 a.m.: This article was updated with the number of injured people.

This article was originally published at 1:10 a.m.