At least nine people were killed by a car bomb this last Friday in Diyarbakir, Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region, shortly after authorities detained a dozen Kurdish lawmakers in relation to a terrorism investigation.

The horrible destruction caused by the bomb resulted in 2 police officers, 1 technician, and 6 civilians losing their lives while it’s estimated that 100 others were injured, 93 of which have luckily been released from the hospital. “The bomb, which damaged cars and nearby building facades, rocked the heavily-populated Baglar district in central Diyarbakir shortly before 8 a.m. local time,” the provincial governor’s office said in a recent statement.

The attack took place near a building used by riot police and came hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators from the People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, for questioning in terror-related probes. Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been increasingly criticized by his NATO allies in Europe for beginning to lean toward authoritarianism and away from the democratic values they share.

Erdogan escalated the tensions when he formally charged 8 of parliament members with several counts of terrorism—related charges on Friday. Due to this, the Diyarbakir governor’s office said rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, might have planted Friday’s bomb, according to the AP. The 12 accused had earlier stated that after their protection had been removed they would refuse to co-operate with the investigation.

The lawmakers have since been arrested because of their failure to appear in court for questioning on the allegations of terrorism and terrorist propaganda. These lawmakers are accused of calling their supporters into the streets in October 2014 after Islamic State militants took the Syrian town of Kobani.

The militants of PKK have upped their attacks on the Turkish security forces over the past year after the peace deal fell apart in 2015, which lead to the protest quickly growing violent as tensions between the two groups rose causing violent outbursts. The violent nature of the protest left many injured and several dead, the protests had directly caused the deaths of several people, included two officers and the rest were citizens whose identities have not yet been release to the public.

The arrests were made during night raids carried out on the members’ homes, of which was followed by a blackout of social media. The blackout of social media was implemented to insure that the dozen lawmakers would not catch wind of the potential raid on their homes. The operation being obviously successful has caused uproar in their political party, and has spurred criticism from pro-Kurdish and human rights activists around the world.

HDP is accused of being the political arm of the PKK, but they claim that the allegation is untrue. “The arrests are just the last step in five days of non-stop repression against Turkey’s Kurdish minority and their leaders, who represent the third-largest voting block in parliament,” said Aykan Erdemir, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy.

Erdogan’s government has been carrying out a broad crack down on opposing political opponents after the failed coup in July. He has arrested or laid off tens of thousands of people from their jobs. The Turkish government has even gone as far as to arrest others who they have deemed opponents such as journalist and even teachers. White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest said, “The Obama administration is deeply disturbed by the arrests of opposition lawmakers and has expressed its concerns to Turkey U.N. Secertary General Ban Ki-moon.”