Up to 50 injured in blast at Kurdish opposition party rally in Turkey

Injured people get first aid after an explosion during an election rally of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Diyarbakir, Turkey, June 5, 2015. An explosion apparently caused by an electrical fault injured several people at an opposition party rally in Turkey's...

DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY | BY SEYHMUS CAKAN-Fri Jun 5, 2015 

An explosion injured as many as 50 people at an opposition rally in Turkey's mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday, two days before a general election, and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was unclear if the blast was an accident or an attack.

Turkish officials earlier had blamed the explosion on a faulty power transformer at the rally site but officials later ruled that possibility out. At least 50 people were injured, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said, according to state-run Anatolia News Agency.

Tensions have run high as the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) campaigns to become the first party with Kurdish origins to win seats in parliament in Sunday's election. Previously, Kurdish MPs have joined the legislature as independents.

The HDP needs to overcome a 10 percent vote threshold, and some opinion polls show it could seize enough seats to deprive Davutoglu's AK Party of the majority it has enjoyed since sweeping to power in 2002.

"It is not yet clear whether this was an attack or an accident. Whatever caused it, we will find out," Davutoglu, referring to Friday's explosion in Diyarbakir, told supporters at a rally in the city of Gaziantep.