Two massive bombs exploded nearly simultaneously Saturday in Turkey’s capital city of Ankara, killing at least 97 people and wounding hundreds more in the process, resulting in the deadliest terror attack in the history of post-Ottoman Turkey.
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The moment of the explosion in Ankara was caught on camera.
Cancelling all election rallies, Mr Demirtas condemned the government as “murderers” and said it had blood on its hands. The HDP tweeted that police “attacked” people carrying the injured away. “This attack prevented people from delivering this message”. A cruel and barbarian attack was carried out.
In the chaotic aftermath of the blasts, the death toll continued to climb.
Diyarbakir was bombed in June, ahead of general elections in which the party entered parliament for the first time.
Bodies covered by flags and banners, including those of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), lay scattered on the road among bloodstains and body parts. Police later cordoned off the area.
“We curse and condemn this atrocious attack taking aim at our democracy and our country’s peace”, the statement said.
National Security Council spokesman Ned Price called it a “horrific terrorist attack” and said the USA stood with the Turkish government and people.
An election is due to take place in Turkey on 1 November – and Mr Davutoglu has suspended campaigning for three days in light of the bombings.
The explosion was captured on camera by Turkish news organisation, Dokuz8 Haber News Agency.
Erdogan earlier said the twin bombings aimed to destroy Turkey’s “peace and stability”.
Witnesses said the blasts were seconds apart shortly after 10am and were so powerful they rocked nearby high-rise buildings.
Late Saturday, the prime minister’s office said that at least 95 people were killed and 246 were wounded. A Turkish MP, Sirri Süreyya Önder, claimed a suspicious vehicle and another suspicious package had been found and that bomb disposal experts had been called to the scene.
One of the explosions was captured on video as demonstrators gathered outside a train station in Ankara for the peace rally. Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of HDP, linked the blast to Islamic State attacks on Kurds in Turkey, Haberturk newspaper reported. “A few of our friends are in serious condition”.
Mr Erdogan strongly denies the accusations.
In July, a suicide bombing blamed on the Islamic State group killed 33 people in a town near Turkey’s border with Syria.
Fighting has resumed between the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and government forces after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July.
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Over 140 members of the security forces have since been killed while Ankara claims to have killed more than 1,700 Kurdish fighters in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.
