At least 10 people were injured Friday in two explosions five minutes apart at a Kurdish party election rally in southeast Turkey, attended by thousands of people, witnesses and reports said.
The explosions occurred at the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party final election rally in Diyarbakir - the main city in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast - as the party's leader Selahattin Demirtaş was preparing to address the crowd.
Rally organizers urged calm, saying a malfunctioning power distribution unit caused the explosions, but witnesses said there were two separate blasts spaced by five minutes that they believed were caused by bombs.
The rally was cancelled but a large group of youths remained at the site, protesting the explosions. Some threw stones at a police water canon that moved in to disperse the crowd.
Following the blast, Demirtaş said the cause of the blast is unclear but urged calm and asked supporters not to "respond to provocations." "It is thought-provoking that this incident has taken place before the election," Demirtaş told Turkey's CNN Turk television from Diyarbakır after the blast. "Whatever the cause of the blast, I am calling on the people of Diyarbakır to keep calm."
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said it was unclear if the explosion was an attack or an accident.
Davutolğu, who was speaking at a rally in the nearby city of Gaziantep before Sunday's parliamentary election, said he opposed any such violence.
Security has been tight at HDP political rallies as tensions run high ahead of Sunday's election. On Thursday, a riot erupted in the northern town of Erzurum as nationalists clashed with HDP supporters at a Demirtaş rally.
Demirtaş has said his party has been the target of more than 70 violent attacks during the campaign.
The HDP is on the cusp of a 10 percent vote threshold required to enter parliament, and would be the first pro-Kurdish party to do so.
Should it pass the barrier, it could deprive the ruling AK Party of the majority it has enjoyed since sweeping to power in 2002.
Also last month, simultaneous bomb blasts hit offices of the HDP in two southern cities in the provinces of Adana and Mersin, wounding six people only three weeks ahead of the June 7 parliamentary election.
