Suspected car bombing in Istanbul injures at least eight people, reports say

The attack targeted military vehicles

Security officers gather at the scene following a vehicle explosion near a military facility in Istanbul (Reuters via Dogan)

Several people have been wounded in a blast near a vehicle carrying military personnel in Istanbul, Turkey.

A car exploded close to a military installation in the Sancaktepe district.

Five military personnel and three civilians were injured in the explosion, one seriously, said the governor of Istanbul, Vasip Sahin.

The Mayor of Sancaktepe, Ismail Erdem, said many of those injured were hit by broken glass.

Security analyst Michael Horowitz posted a tweet appearing the aftermath of the attack:

There have been a number of bombings in Turkey, a Nato-member state, over the last few months and both Isis and Kurdish militant groups have claimed responsibility for different attacks.

The explosion comes just two days after Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb close to a police vehicle in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, killing three people and wounding dozens of others.

The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have been targeting police and military targets since July, when a fragile peace process collapsed.

The group is fighting for autonomy for Turkey's Kurds in the southeast of the country. It has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed 40,000 lives.

The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its allies.

PKK-linked rebels have staged multiple bomb attacks against Turkish police and troops, which in turn have carried out tank-backed security operations in flashpoint areas.