At least 28 killed as blast rocks military convoy in Ankara

Sixty-one others injured in car bomb attack close to a residential compound for Turkish military in nation's capital



Wednesday 17 February 2016


The aftermath of explosion in Ankara that targeted a convoy of military service vehicles (AFP)

At least 28 people were killed and 61 wounded in a car bomb targeting the Turkish military in the capital Ankara on Wednesday, the city's governor said.

The attack was aimed at a convoy of military service vehicles, Ankara governor Mehmet Kiliclar said, quoted by the CNN-Turk and NTV channels.

Turkish officials reportedly told Reuters that initial signs indicate that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are responsible for the bombing. 

Plumes of smoke were seen rising over an area and the powerful blast was heard all over the city, sending residents to their balconies in panic, an AFP correspondent said.

Ambulances and fire engines were sent to the scene, which is near the Turkish military headquarters and the parliament.

NTV television said the explosion happened near a residential block for top-level military staff, thought to include Turkish Air and Land Force commands.

The spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Omer Celik, said he strongly condemned the attack, Turkish media reported.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has cancelled a scheduled visit to Brussels, according to AFP.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed that Turkey was more determined than ever to use its right to "self-defence" after a car bomb targeting military service vehicles killed at least 28 people.

"Our determination to respond in kind to attacks taking place inside and outside our borders is getting stronger with such acts," Erdogan said in a statement. "It must be known that Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defence at any time, any place or any occasion."

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus acknowledged, "We don't have any information yet about who carried out this attack" but vowed the perpetrators "will be revealed as soon as possible."

The Islamic State group has been blamed for a slew of bombings in the country since the middle of last year but the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has also killed dozens of soldiers in attacks mainly in the southeast of the country.

The capital was already on alert after 103 people were killed on 10 October when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of peace activists in Ankara, the bloodiest attack in the country's modern history.

Eleven people, all German tourists, were also killed on 16 January when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the tourist heart of Istanbul.

Those attacks were blamed on the Islamic State group, as were two other deadly bombings in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast earlier in the year.

Turkish authorities have in recent weeks detained several suspected IS members, with officials saying they were planning attacks in Istanbul and Ankara.

But Turkey is also waging an all-out assault on the PKK, which has staged dozens of deadly attacks against members of the security forces in the southeast.

The PKK launched an insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although now more for greater autonomy and rights for the country's largest ethnic minority.

The conflict, which has left tens of thousands of people dead, looked like it could be nearing a resolution until an uneasy truce was shattered in July.

Ankara has also been carrying out air strikes against Syrian Kurdish fighters across the border wartorn Syria since the weekend.

A Kurdish splinter group, the Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan (TAK), claimed a mortar attack on Istanbul's second international airport on 23 December, which killed a female cleaner and damaged several planes.

The United States on Wednesday forcefully condemned a deadly car bomb targeting the Turkish military in Ankara, reaffirming US solidarity with its NATO partner and key regional ally.

"The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Turkish military personnel and civilians today in Ankara, Turkey," deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

"We reaffirm our strong partnership with our NATO ally Turkey in combatting the shared threat of terrorism attacks."