A suspected suicide bomber has detonated explosives in a car outside a police station in the central Turkish province of Kayseri, killing himself and a police officer. At least 19 other people were wounded in the blast on Friday, six of them seriously, Turkish media reported.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants including al-Qaida, and groups on the far left and right have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey.

The broadcaster NTV said the bomber had tried to drive his car into the police station moments before the explosion.

NTV said a second assailant was also involved in the attack, which took place in the town of Pinarbasi, east of Kayseri city. Kayseri province is some 200 miles south-east of the Turkish capital, Ankara.

"We can't get in contact with Pinarbasi police right now, either by telephone or other mobile devices. We know as much as television has reported," one Kayseri police officer said shortly after the blast.

"We heard that one policeman was killed and 19 people were wounded but we don't know yet how many of these people are policemen and how many are civilians," he said.

Hasan Gumus, a civil servant at the Pinarbasi district governor's office, said he heard the blast from his office 2km away.

"We heard a huge blast even though our office is 2km away from the police station. We saw a big cloud of smoke rising but we don't know about the number of dead or injured," Gumus said.

"We heard that it was a car which attempted to drive into the police station and then an explosion occurred."

Television footage showed frantic scenes around the police station in Pinarbasi, with fire engines and ambulances rushing to the site of the blast.