26 held after Turkey car bomb attack
Associated Press

ISTANBUL — Turkish officials have detained 26 people after a car bomb attack that killed two people last week in the southeast of the country.

The car bomb exploded Friday near the lodgings of judges and prosecutors in the mainly Kurdish town of Viransehir in Sanliurfa province, bordering Syria. Footage from the scene showed a heavily damaged building and wrecked cars.

In a news conference at the town’s courthouse Saturday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the explosion killed the 11-year-old son of a court clerk and a 27-year-old neighborhood guard.

Eleven people remained hospitalized, the minister said. Two were in critical condition.

The governor’s office announced that the owner of the van, which was loaded with explosives and parked near the government housing, was among the detained.

Governor Gungor Azim Tuna told state-run Anadolu news agency that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was responsible.

Vice President Mike Pence met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Germany and expressed his condolences for the attack. ‘‘The Vice President reiterated the United States’ commitment to Turkey as a strategic partner and NATO ally,’’ a White House statement said.

Turkey has been hit by a series of violent attacks since the summer of 2015, which were blamed on the Islamic State or Kurdish militants. More than 550 people have been killed in these attacks.

Associated Press