Islamic State Says It Was Behind Bombing Killing 9 In Southeast Turkey

People react as Turkish police officers block the streets near the site of a strong blast in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on November 4 that killed nine people.

A news outlet linked to the Islamic State group said its fighters were behind a bombing that killed nine people and injured more than 100 in southeastern Turkey, U.S. monitors said.

"Fighters from the Islamic State detonated an explosives-laden vehicle parked in front of a Turkish police headquarters in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey," the SITE Intelligence Group quoted the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency as saying on November 4.

Turkish authorities had blamed the blast in Diyarbakir, Turkey's main majority-Kurdish city, on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.

In an audio message released earlier this week, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi broke a year-old silence to call for attacks against Turkey, and urged his fighters to hold their ground against Iraqi troops moving to retake the IS stronghold of Mosul.

Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and AP