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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He said the attack Saturday aimed to influence the result of Turkey’s November. 1 election and cast a shadow over the polls.
Turkey ended a 2013 cease-fire agreement with the PKK after a July suicide bombing, UPI reports.
DNA tests are being conducted to compare samples from the suspected bombers with family members of 20 Turkish extremists linked to IS. “We’re close to a name, which points to one group”, he said, without giving further details.
Peaceful protestors were due to call an end to the violence between Turkish government forces and the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party before the blast.
The victims were mostly activists of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, which is now reported considering all election rallies.
However, in an interview with private NTV television, Davutoglu said more vaguely that the evidence pointed to a “certain group” which he refused to identify.
The attacks happened near the city’s central train station just as people were gathering for a protest organized by leftist groups.
Opponents of Erdogan, who has led the country over 13 years, blame him for the attack on a rally organised by pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups, accusing the state at best of intelligence failings and at worst of complicity by stirring up nationalist, anti-Kurdish sentiment. “It was determined how the suicide bombers got there”, Davutoglu stated.
There is anger in Turkey that authorities were unable to prevent such a major attack in the heart of the capital city – and a few scepticism from opposition groups about the government’s claims.
“But this will not turn Turkey into a Syria”, he added.
On Saturday, the PKK called a new ceasefire but the Turkish government rejected it and launched a fresh round of airstrikes against Kurdish positions on Sunday.
July: 33 people are killed in a suicide bombing in Surucm, and IS is blamed.
“We should unrelentingly show every day and in every place to those who tried to silence the people who gathered in Ankara for peace, that the voice of life and peace will not keep quiet”, it said in a statement.
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Security sources said a few 30-35 PKK guerrillas were killed in northern Iraqi raids on Sunday while the military said 14 militants were killed in the district of Lice in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
