“We’re close to a name, which points to one group”, Davutoglu said.
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The Turkish leader rejected accusations that Turkey was being drawn into the crisis in Syria saying: “These attacks won’t turn Turkey into a Syria”.
The Hurriyet newspaper said the type of device and explosives used in Ankara were the same as those used in the Suruç attack.
The activists had planned to rally for an end to the escalating violence between the Turkish authorities and the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Developments relating to Saturday’s deadly bombings targeting a peace rally in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
The attacks also claimed the lives of 137 civilians, including six children, and two foreign nationals, an Iranian and a Palestinian. Showcasing the collision course the two sides have apparently embarked on is the unfolding blame game for Saturday’s attacks.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday said the Islamic State (IS) extremist group was the prime suspect in the double suicide bombings in Ankara that killed 97 and sparked anger over the authorities’ failure to ensure security.
Thousands of people travelled to the site of the attack and many chanted anti-government slogans, such as “Murderer Erdogan”, referring to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom many hold responsible for the violence.
AKP received 40.9 percent of the vote in June, after the pro-Kurdish HDP entered parliament and deprived it of the majority it had since 2002.
“There was general intelligence concerning a team called the “immortals” within Daesh (IS) making preparations, concerning preparations by the PKK”, Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu said the attacks that targeted activists gathering for a rally to call for peace with the Kurdish rebels were aimed to “cast a shadow” over Turkey’s November 1 election and to influence the result.
“The event exposes huge flaws in the Turkish security apparatus that has been cracking down on the PKK for months, but neglected an equally serious and even more unpredictable threat such as ISIS”, Cristian Maggio, head of Emerging Markets Research at TD Securities in London, said, using an alternative name for Islamic State. The detentions raised the number of suspected Isis militants taken into custody, in sweeps of four cities, to around 40. It was not clear where the arrests, announced Monday, were linked to the suicide bombings at a rally promoting peace with the Kurdish rebels.
The group, which has a strong base near Damascus and is known for having strong ties to the Turkish government, says it is expressing its “complete solidarity with the Turkish government and is sending condolences to the families of the victims”.
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IS also has no love lost for Kurdish forces, since it has fought Syrian Kurdish forces who are allied with Turkey’s Kurdish rebels in northern Syria – including over the town of Kobani, which was recaptured from IS by Kurdish forces past year.
