Turkey holds a parliamentary election on Sunday that could reshape its political landscape. A day before polling, a gas cylinder bomb packed with ball bearings caused one of two blasts that ripped through a Kurdish rally late on Friday, killing two people and injuring more than 100, Dogan news agency said on Saturday.
The blasts, which President Tayyip Erdogan described as a "provocation" designed to undermine peace, occurred as thousands gathered for a pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) rally in Diyarbakir, mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey's largest city.
Dogan cited officials as saying metal parts from the device were gathered as evidence under the supervision of prosecutors at the site of the blasts. It said no suspects have so far been identified but security camera video was being studied.
The episode occurred at a particularly tense time in Turkish politics, with just two days left until the country votes in what analysts have described as one of the most consequential elections in its history.
The governing Justice and Development Party hopes to win a supermajority in Parliament that would allow it to rewrite the Constitution and establish a strong executive presidency, a goal of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the party's co-founder and Turkey's longtime prime minister who last year was elected to the presidency, which had been a largely ceremonial post. The People's Democratic Party, on the other hand, has been campaigning hard to become the first Kurdish party to secure representation in Parliament.
The blasts, which President Tayyip Erdogan described as a "provocation" designed to undermine peace, occurred as thousands gathered for a pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) rally in Diyarbakir, mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey's largest city.
Dogan cited officials as saying metal parts from the device were gathered as evidence under the supervision of prosecutors at the site of the blasts. It said no suspects have so far been identified but security camera video was being studied.
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The episode occurred at a particularly tense time in Turkish politics, with just two days left until the country votes in what analysts have described as one of the most consequential elections in its history.
The governing Justice and Development Party hopes to win a supermajority in Parliament that would allow it to rewrite the Constitution and establish a strong executive presidency, a goal of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the party's co-founder and Turkey's longtime prime minister who last year was elected to the presidency, which had been a largely ceremonial post. The People's Democratic Party, on the other hand, has been campaigning hard to become the first Kurdish party to secure representation in Parliament.