Turkey car bomb toll doubles to 18 dead: PM

A total of 18 people were killed in a car bomb in southeastern Turkey today, among them eight civilians, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

"The attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber who detonated a van with five tons of explosives," Yildirim told a press conference in Istanbul. Earlier reports put the toll at nine dead.

Another 26 people -- 10 soldiers and 16 civilians -- were injured in the blast in Hakkari province which was blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the official news agency Anadolu said.