(Istanbul) Human Rights Watch unconditionally condemns the August 20, 2012 car bomb attack in the southeastern city of Gaziantep which killed nine civilians, including three children, and injured scores of others, and calls on the authorities to expend every effort in investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of this deadly attack.
The car bomb attack took place at 19.45 on the second day of Ramazan Bayramı (Eid al-Fitr), the religious holiday that follows the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, and is a public holiday in Turkey. The car was parked near a police station in a busy street in the Şehitkamil district of Gaziantep. Initial reports from the Turkish government and in the Turkish press have pointed to the involvement of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), although the armed group has denied involvement in the attack.
