A car bomb wounded nine people (seven civilians, two police officers) in the eastern Turkish province of Tunceli on Monday near a housing block for civil servants working at a local courthouse, security sources said.According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, a PKK suicide bomber detonated a bomb-laden car near the lodgings in the district of Ovacık.

Television images showed remains of a vehicle burning on the road and smoke rising from damaged buildings.

Three of those wounded were in critical condition, according to the reports.

Last week, two car bomb explosions, both claimed by the PKK terror group, killed 17 in Istanbul and the southern town of Midyat.

The militant group, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), which is considered an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility for a car-bomb attack that targeted a police vehicle and killed six police officers and five civilians.

Istanbul's bombing was followed a day later by a suicide attack targeting the police headquarters in the southeastern town of Midyat that killed three police officers and three civilians.