The Islamic State (IS) group is the prime suspect over the twin explosions in Turkey’s capital at the weekend that left nearly 100 people dead, the country’s prime minister has said.
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The Queen said she is “shocked and saddened” by the suspected suicide bombings. DNA tests are being conducted.
The Ankara attack revived memories of a similar bombing of a pro-Kurdish rally in the southeastern town of Diyarbakir and another in Suruc in July that killed at least 30 and was also attributed to the group calling itself Islamic State.
The rally on Saturday was organised by Turkish and Kurdish activists to call for increased democracy and an end to the renewed fighting between Turkey’s security forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeast that has killed hundreds since July.
The German government says Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Turkey on Sunday for talks with the country’s leaders on terrorism, Syria and the migrant crisis.
No group has said it carried out the attack, but the government believes that two male suicide bombers caused the explosions. They worry the bombings could entice rogue Kurdish forces to attack, persuading Turks to seek security over peace.
Following the attack, the worst of its kind on Turkish soil, hundreds of people chanting anti-government slogans marched on a mosque in an Istanbul suburb for the funeral of several of the victims.
Mr Davutoglu vowed that November 1 legislative elections would go ahead, despite the bombing.
A few members of the largely Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, which stunned Turkey by winning enough seats in parliament in the June elections to stymie Erdogan’s ambitions, have gone so far as to accuse the Turkish president of failing to prevent the massacre.
While the officials claim that the “Islamic State” is most likely behind the attacks, many leftist and pro-Kurdish groups place the blame on the government for failing to protect the rally.
“This attack was clearly held against Turkey and our social friendship”, said Bahceli. The detentions raised the number of suspected ISIS militants taken into custody in sweeps in four cities to around 40.
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Thousands of Turkish citizens participated in a protest in Central Ankara on October 11, despite Saturday’s terrorist attack which targeted a peace rally and caused the death of at least 95 people and the injury of another 246.
