Turkey’s accusation of the Kurdish groups comes as Ankara continues to send airstrikes at PYD and YPG targets near the Turkish-Syrian border, where the Kurdish militia have increased their operations.
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Eighty-one people were wounded, seven of whom are still in intensive care, the health ministry said. “And the ones – the groups that we’re supporting are actually not the same groups”, according to State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
Turkey fears they could seize a 100km-stretch (62 miles) as far as Jarablus to create a large zone along the border.
The PKK has in the past frequently targeted military convoys and off-duty military personnel and the attacks have intensified as the Turkish military has stepped up its campaign.
Mr Erdogan told reporters there was “no doubt about the fact that those who carried out this attack are the YPG and the PYD”.
“This act was conducted to avenge the massacre of defenseless, injured civilians”, the group said, in reference to a large-scale Turkish military attack against militants in the town of Cizre, reports The Associated Press (AP). Maintaining this line, Davutoglu said, “Those who directly or indirectly support a group hostile to Turkey will risk losing their status as a friend”.
The petition has been hit by bad timing, with Turkey blaming the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) for a auto bomb in Ankara yesterday which killed at least 28.
A Syrian national identified as Saleh Najjar from the Kurdish town of Amuda in northern Syria was identified as the perpetrator of the suicide bombing, and nine other people have been detained in connection with the attack, Davutoglu said.
The attack, the latest in a series of bombings in the past year mostly blamed on Islamic State, comes as Turkey gets dragged ever deeper into the war in neighbouring Syria and tries to contain some of the fiercest violence in decades in its predominantly Kurdish southeast. The Turkish government announced Syrian Kurdish militia was responsible for the attack.
The Kurdish militia, however, has been most effective in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.
There was no claim of responsibility after the bombing, and at the time Turkish officials conceded they had no leads on a culprit.
“The PYD has deployed just two kilometers from Azaz since Tuesday and today they have started to carry out their attack to seize the city”, the rebel commander reportedly said.
Wednesday’s attack – blamed on a Syrian suicide vehicle bomber – struck at the heart of Ankara, an area where institutions including the army headquarters and parliament are concentrated.
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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.
