Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Emergency services work at the explosion site in the busy center of Turkish capital, Ankara, March 13, 2016. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a car bomb that went off close to bus stops.(Photo: AP)
A large car bomb explosion killed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at least 34 people and wounded scores more in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday, the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>governor’s office said.
The bomb exploded close to bus stops near a park at Kizilay, Ankara's main square, NTV television reported. The news channel said the explosion occurred as a car slammed into a bus.
Mehmet Muezzinoglu,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Turkey’s health minister, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>125 people were wounded, 19 of them seriously. He said 30 of the victims died at the scene, while another perished at hospitals. Two of the dead were believed to be bombers, The Associated Press reported.
The BBC reported that several vehicles at the scene were reduced to burnt-out wrecks, including at least one bus.
USA TODAY
Turkey seizes leading paper, tightening grip on press
No group immediately claimed credit for the attack, but a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>senior government official told the AP police suspected that Kurdish militants carried out the attack.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kurdish militants and the Islamic State group have carried out bombings in the city recently.
Dogan Asik, 28, said he was on a bus when the explosion occurred.
“We were thrown further back into the bus from the force of the explosion,” said Asik, who sustained injuries to his face and arm.
Police sealed off the area and pushed onlookers back, the AP reported, warning there could be a second bomb. Forensic teams were examining the scene.
An injured person is carried at the explosion site in the busy center of Turkey's capital, Ankara, March 13, 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: AP)
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was convening an emergency security meeting and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>President Recep Erdogan, who has been in Istanbul, was briefed on the attack by the interior minister, the newspaper Hurriyet reported. Erdogan was expected to return to Ankara.
Turkey's state-run news agency reported that Davutoglu had postponed a visit to Jordan.
The explosion came just three weeks after a suicide car bombing in the capital targeted buses carrying military personnel, killing 29 people. A Kurdish militant offshoot of the outlawed Kurdish rebel group the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for that attack.
But on Sunday, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or<span style="color: Red;">*</span>HDP,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>issued a statement saying it shares “the huge pain felt along with our citizens.”
In a statement, White House National Security Council<span style="color: Red;">*</span>spokesperson Ned Price on Sunday said the U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>condemns the attack "in the strongest terms," adding, "This horrific act is only the most recent of many terrorist attacks perpetrated against the Turkish people. The United States stands together with Turkey, a NATO ally and valued partner, as we confront the scourge of terrorism."
Sunday’s attack came two days after the U.S. Embassy issued a security warning about a potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing in one Ankara neighborhood and asked citizens to avoid those areas.
Turkish police remove a damaged bus from the site of an explosion in Ankara on Feb. 18, 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Tolga Bozoglu, epa)
Hundreds of people have been killed in Turkey in renewed fighting following the collapse of the peace process between the government and the PKK in July. Authorities on Sunday had declared curfews in two towns in the mainly Kurdish southeast region in anticipation of large-scale military operations against PKK-linked militants.
Turkey also has been struck by several bombings in the last year that were blamed on the Islamic State as the government joined efforts led by the U.S. to fight the extremist group in Syria. The deadliest came in October when a peace rally outside Ankara’s main train station killed 102 people.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed