Dozens killed as large explosion rocks Turkish capital Ankara | France24 |

Twenty-eight people were killed and dozens wounded in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Wednesday when a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses near the armed forces’ headquarters, parliament and other government buildings.

The Turkish military condemned what it described as a “contemptible and dastardly” attack on the buses as they waited at traffic lights in the administrative heart of the city.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said 28 people including soldiers and civilians had been killed and 61 wounded in the blast, which took place near a busy intersection less than 500 metres from parliament during the evening rush hour.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag described the attack as an act of terrorism and told parliament, which was in session when the blast occurred, that the car had exploded on a part of the street lined on both sides by military vehicles.

In a statement, French President François Hollande called the bombing an “odious attack” and expressed “support and solidarity with the Turkish authorities and the Turkish people”.

    A senior security source said initial signs indicated that Kurdish militants
    from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were responsible.     [I call it bs …
    from the description it was a targeted suicide car bomb attack with IS signature – Oui]

    Separate security sources in the southeast, however, said they believed Islamic State
    (IS) group militants may have been behind the bombing.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu immediately scrapped his trip to Brussels for a mini-summit on Europe’s refugee crisis, diplomats said. The talks, taking place ahead of a full summit of the 28-nation European Union, were to gather the leaders of 11 EU countries and the Turkish PM to focus on how to resettle Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey.

At least 28 killed in car bomb attack in Turkish capital Ankara | Hürriyet Daily News |

Turkey: Previous Car Bombings by Islamic State

Turkish prosecutors say ‘strong evidence’ that Islamic State ordered twin suicide bombings in Ankara ABC.net.au | Oct. 28, 2015 |

A massive twin bombing in Turkey’s capital Ankara this month that killed 102 people was ordered by the militant Islamic State (IS) group, Turkish prosecutors say.

They said there was “strong evidence” that it was also behind other attacks in the country, including one on the border with Syria in July, and were planning more.

“This terrorist organisation carried out the attack on the Ankara train station on the orders of the terrorist group in Syria and sought a suicide bomber of Turkish origin,” Ankara prosecutors said in a statement.

A cell in the south-eastern province of Gaziantep which borders Syria “planned attacks inside Turkey after taking direct orders from Daesh in Syria,” the statement said, using an another acronym for IS.

The October 10 attack targeted a peace rally staged by Turkish leftists and pro-Kurdish activists and was the worst ever on Turkish soil, sharply raising tensions ahead of this Sunday’s general election.

Turkish officials had said previously the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers, including at least one Turk, and that the IS group was the number one suspect.

The prosecutors said information extracted from electronic devices had revealed “crucial information” about the organisation behind the carnage, including the flow of funds to cells in Turkey from its bases in Syria.

Police this week launched raids on suspected IS hideouts in several parts of the country, including an operation in the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir which resulted in the death of two Turkish policemen and seven militants.

Media reports at the weekend said security forces were searching for a cell allegedly plotting a major attack, such as hijacking a plane or a vessel or carrying out suicide attacks in a crowded location.

Pressure has piled on president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with opposition figures blaming him for security lapses over the Ankara bombing and failing to crack down on IS.

One of the Ankara bombers was officially identified last week as Yunus Emre Alagoz, brother of the man suspected of carrying out the attack in Suruc on the Syrian border in July, which left 34 people dead and which prosecutors said was also the work of IS.  

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