AKIPRESS.COM - The death toll from a car bomb that exploded Sunday in southeast Turkey has risen to 18, Turkish state media reports.

The bomb exploded at about 9.45 a.m. local time outside a police station in the Semdinli district of Hakkari Province -- about 77 kilometers (48 miles) from the Iraqi border, Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said eight civilians died and 10 soldiers were killed in the attack, in which a pickup truck laden with about five tons of explosives made a "suicide rush" at a checkpoint outside the station, CNN reports.

Sixteen soldiers and an unknown number of civilians also were injured.

The United States condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" in a statement from US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the Turkish army said the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been accused of a string of bombings targeting Turkish police and army assets, was behind the attacks.