Antalya explosion: Turkey tourist resort hit by car blast 'injuring several'

Eyewitness says blast smashed windows and left people bloodied

Around a dozen people have been injured in an explosion in the tourist resort of Antalya in southern Turkey.

Mayor Menderes Turel said the cause of the blast, inside a car parked outside the Antalya Trade and Industry Chamber, was not immediately known but added that it may not have been the result of a terror attack.

About 10 or 12 people were hurt by flying glass, but none of the injuries were serious, he told NTV television.

Officials investigate the site after an explosion in Turkey's Mediterranean resort of Antalya. The explosion of a car in the parking lot of the local chamber of trade on lightly injured about a dozen people (DHA via AP)

The blast damaged at least four cars in the parking area and shattered glass panels inside the Antalya Trade and Industry Chamber, which is located on the outskirts of Antalya.

Mr Turel and the chief of the trade chamber said the blast may be the result of an accident - an explosion inside a car running on liquefied petroleum gas - and not necessarily an act of terror.

People stand by damaged cars near the site of an explosion in Antalya (Turkey OUTIHLAS NEWS AGENCY/AFP/Getty Images)

The explosion occured as employees were arriving at the building for work, hours before the trade chamber was scheduled to hold a meeting to be attended by the mayor.

Police sealed the trade center's perimeter in case of a second explosion.

As with previous explosions, authorities imposed a temporary media blackout on the coverage of the incident, citing safety and public order concerns as well as the integrity of the investigation

Antalya is a major tourist resort on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. In August, two rockets hit a commercial facility near a resort town in the province, but caused no casualties.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for that attack, but Kurdish and far-left militants have staged similar attacks, mostly against the security forces, in the past.

Earlier this month three rockets, believed to have been fired by Kurdish militants, hit a fishing company depot near Antalya. No-one was hurt in the attack.

Turkey has been hit by a series of deadly bombings this year, some of which have been blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and some on Isis militants.

In August a suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in an attack on a wedding party in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.