A police officer was shot dead and two others injured by unidentified assailants on Wednesday, May 4 in the northern province of Kastamonu, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been speaking earlier in the day.

Erdogan, who addressed his supporters in Kastamonu as part of election campaigning, left Kastamonu for Amasya in a helicopter briefly before the attack took place. Sources from the Prime Ministry told the CNN Turk TV channel that one police officer had been killed and two others injured during a brief firefight between an armed group and police officers.

One police cruiser was also set ablaze. Special security teams were dispatched to the scene and police cordoned off the area. Many ambulances were sent to the area, the broadcaster said. No further details were immediately available.

Addressing his supporters in Amasya, Erdogan said terrorists who thought they couldn't solve their problems at the ballot box think they will get results through armed attacks. The prime minister said his party will not allow the division of Turkey and that it is doing everything it can to avert a confrontation among Turkey's population of 74 million.

Observers say Erdogan's comments implied that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had orchestrated the attack, Today's Zaman reported.