Explosion hits the southern Turkish city of Adana

The blast occurred just after 8:00 a.m. (0600 UTC) on Thursday when a loud explosion was heard outside the office, with witnesses reporting seeing multiple vehicles on fire in the building's parking lot.

Labour Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu told broadcaster CNN Turk the attack was probably carried out by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.

There is as yet no official word about the possible cause of the explosion, but CNN Turk said it was believed to have been caused by a car bomb set off by a female attacker.

CNN Turk broadcast a video of a vehicle ablaze in the car park outside the governor's offices and thick black smoke rising into the sky in the strategically located city 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Turkey's eastern Mediterranean coast. 

The broadcaster reported that a large number of emergency workers rushed to the scene and that plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing from the site.

Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik described the explosion on Twitter as a "vile attack."

"Damned terror continues to target our people. We will fight with this terror to the end in the name of humanity," Celik wrote on Twitter, saying he had spoken to the Adana governor.

Spate of car bombings

Turkey has seen a series of car bombings in recent months by the banned PKK and its subsidiary, TAK. Other attacks have been claimed by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group.

Adana is near İncirlik Air Base, where NATO personnel, including German troops, are stationed and air missions in the fight against IS are launched.

The Turkish Armed Forces attacked nine IS targets in northern Syria this week, according to an army statement released on Wednesday.

Free Syrian Army (FSA) special task force soldiers - which are supported by Turkey - continued land-based attacks to control areas east and west of the city of Al-Bab as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in late August to rid Syria's northern border area of terrorists. 

jbh/sms (Reuters, AP)