However, the IS group has openly claimed past attacks, sometimes opportunistically taking responsibility for actions it did not direct. There has been no such claim for the Ankara bombing, and sceptics see the group as a convenient scapegoat.
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In a live interview on Turkish broadcaster NTV, Davutoglu said the attack was aimed to “cast a shadow” over Turkey’s parliamentary election on November 1 and an attempt to influence the results.
He said that the attacks were definitely carried out by two suicide bombers. DNA tests are being conducted.
Not specifically identifying any group behind the act, Davutoglu said, “We investigate Daesh (ISIS) as our No. 1 priority”.
The two explosions happened seconds apart as hundreds gathered for a march organised by pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups to protest over the conflict between Turkish security forces and militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the south east of the country. Turkey, which used to be held up as a rare example of stability and democracy in the Middle East, is now looking increasingly unstable, reports CBS News correspondent Holly Williams.
Meanwhile, almost a dozen funerals were being held Monday across Istanbul for the almost 100 victims of Saturdays attack.
Unrest continued elsewhere in the mainly Kurdish region, with the historic Sur district of Diyarbakir city remaining under round-the-clock curfew for the third day on Monday after police on Sunday fired tear gas to prevent protesters entering the district, witnesses said.
The Haberturk newspaper has cited police sources as saying the type of explosive and the choice of target pointed to a group within Islamic State known as the “Adiyaman ones”, a reverence to Adiyaman province in southeastern Turkey.
Denying the allegations, the government said that the attack could have been carried out by the Islamic State, Kurdish militants or radical leftist groups. On the other hand, mourners have accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of fomenting violence to gain votes for the ruling party ahead of the vote.
It was not clear however, if any of the arrests were linked to the peace rally bombings.
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Kurdish forces have been battling ISIS jihadists across a swath of northern Iraq and Syria, and the Turkish government recently changed its stance to allow the United States to launch strikes on the militant group’s positions from Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey.
