Nine killed in Turkey fire

Ankara: Nine people were killed and 25 others injured on Friday when a fire broke out in a building in Cizre in southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakar, a town that has been under a curfew since mid-December last year.

Idris Baluken, a deputy for the pro-Kurdish Peoples` Democratic Party (HDP), said the building caught fire after getting hit by bombardments and security forces prevented ambulances from reaching the scene, Xinhua cited Turkish private Ihlas news agency as saying.

A curfew was imposed in Cizre on December 14 last year, when a large scale military operation against militants affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) was launched.

Some HDP deputies said more than 20 people injured in clashes have been trapped in another building in the Cudi neighbourhood since January 23 awaiting medical care, but ambulances cannot get close to the building due to ongoing clashes.

Turkish President Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have dismissed the HDP deputies` statements, questioning whether there are injured people trapped in the locations they claim, and insisting that there are ambulances in the region ready to pick up the injured at all times.