The death toll from the blast rose to 37 after three people died from their injuries overnight.
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Gadgets 360 adds that Hurriyet Daily News reported that the explosion was caused by a bomb-laden vehicle near Kizilay square of Ankara. Additionally, 71 people are being attended to in the hospital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) Security and forensic officials work at the site of Sunday’s explosion in the busy center of Turkish capital, Ankara Monday, March 14, 2016.
Local news broadcasters CNN Turk and NTV claim that footage of the attack was uploaded to Twitter and Facebook and consequently shared online, prompting the ban by a court in Ankara.
A senior official said the attack was carried out by two Kurdish bombers.
“I strongly condemned the cowardly terror attack that targeted our innocent civilians”, Cavusoglu said in a tweet.
The PKK is a Kurdish separatist group that has been fighting an insurgency war with the Turkish government since 1984. A Kurdish militant group which is an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility. A fragile peace process between the PKK and the Turkish state collapsed in July, reigniting a battle that has cost tens of thousands of lives since 1984. The PKK has been locked in a three-decade-long insurgency against the government for Kurdish independence.
Turkey, however, blamed a Syrian national who was a member of the YPG. More than 100 people were injured in addition to the almost 40 killed.
The attack is the third to strike Ankara in five months, in an area close to the prime minister’s office, parliament and foreign embassies, as Turkey grapples with twin security threats from the Islamic State group (IS) and Kurdish rebels.
“The PKK has been squeezed out in the southeastern provinces where the Turkish military has ramped up security operations to sweep PKK stronghold cities and towns”, Bayram Kaya, an Ankara-based security expert, told Xinhua. Washington considers the PKK a terrorist organisation but has backed the Kurdish militia in Syria, which has been effective in fighting IS.
Meanwhile, Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq yesterday. Targets hits consisted of ammunition depots, bunkers and shelters. Police also carried out raids in southern Turkey and detained suspected rebels.
The assistance includes “sharing information on the incident”, the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman said.
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Turkey already had plans for large-scale operations against Kurdish militants.
