Bomb blast outside police headquarters kills several, injuries dozens in Turkey

At least eight people died and dozens of people were injured Friday when a car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of police in Cizre, in southeastern Turkey, according to multiple reports.

The Associated Press reported eight people, all police officers, died as a result of the bombing and said 45 others were wounded. Unnamed hospital sources initially told Reuters the blast claimed at least nine lives and left 64 people injured, although the news agency later reported eight deaths, citing government officials. Local media reported at least 11 deaths.

Videos and photographs taken in the area of the explosion showed billowing plumes of smoke around the heavily damaged police building.

A gunfight broke out between the bombers and police after the blast, Al Jazeera reported.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said the attack was carried out by militants with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The group has carried out a string of car bomb attacks on police and military in recent months.

Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after a fragile two-year peace process between the government and militant group collapsed. Hundreds of security force members have been killed since.

The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies.

Cizre is in Sirnak province, a province that has a largely Kurdish population and borders Syria and Iraq.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.