Mermer Gendarmerie station located on the road between Amed and its Lice district was targeted by a bomb action at around 22:00 yesterday evening.

Reports are coming through that the station was razed to the ground after a bomb-laden vehicle was detonated among the buildings of the military facility.

The front building, administrative-control building, the cafeteria, officers' mess and dormitory in the station have all been destroyed completely, according to reports.

Dozens of ambulances were rushed to the scene after the bomb action, while fire brigade managed to extinguish the fire only 30 minutes later.

Turkish troops in the area raked the village of Mermer till early this morning. While the entry and exit points of the village have also been blocked, a media ban has been imposed on the incident.

The gendarmerie station has reportedly been allocated to Gendarme Special Operations Teams known as JÖH since last August. While some 50-60 soldiers remain deployed in the station under usual circumstances, reports say that the number of the soldiers in the outpost was much higher yesterday upon the recent reinforcements and deployments.

The Mermer station on Amed-Lice-Bingöl highway used to operate as headquarters of the JİTEM (Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror Unit) during the dark years of the 90's.

While Turkish General Staff has announced 3 dead and 24 wounded soldiers as a result of yesterday's bomb action, local sources report that Turkish troops suffered many more casualties, as many as 30 dead.

According to reports, the station was hit by heavy weaponry for half an hour after the explosion. While it took some 30 minutes to extinguish the fire at the scene, casualties remained under the ruins for hours.

The gendarmerie station has been covered with a tarp stretched around and Amed-Bingöl road has been closed to traffic.

HPG hasn't released a statement on the incident yet.