A car bomb has exploded in a city in southeast Turkey, killing eight people and wounding 50 others, the mayor of Gaziantap, Asim Guzelbey, has told local television.

The powerful blast went off close to a police station on Monday, setting fire to several vehicles including a city bus, the mayor told NTV news channel, which broadcast images of firefighters racing to put out the flames.

Gaziantap, a main city in the region, has so far been spared from the violence wrought by rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since they began their battle for autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984.

The conflict with the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, has claimed some 45,000 lives over nearly three decades.