Turkish security forces and pro-Kurdish protesters clashed on Friday as tensions erupted over the visit of a nationalist leader to a flashpoint eastern region, an AFP photographer reported.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, a figure of hate for many Kurds, visited the eastern province of Tunceli, a stronghold of Kurds who adhere to the Alevi offshoot of Shia Islam.

A bomb exploded in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey on Tuesday as a police vehicle passed by, wounding several people, security sources said.

The powerful blast in the center of Tunceli province destroyed the vehicle, the sources said, and many ambulances were dispatched to the scene.