Mr Davutoglu added that authorities had detained 11 people directly connected to the suicide bombing near a line of bus stops that killed 37 people. No group has claimed responsibility but the Prime Minister has said “evidence” points to the banned PKK (Kurdistan Workers Paryt) separatists group. The following month, Turkey bombed PKK camps in Iraq, with the PKK retaliating with a vehicle bomb attack against Turkish troops.
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Sunday’s attack also occurred two days after the USA embassy issued a security warning about a potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing in Ankara’s Bahcelievler neighbourhood and asked its citizens to avoid those areas.
Police have arrested several suspects reportedly linked to Kurdish rebels in connection with the Ankara bomb attack.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to bring terrorism “to its knees” after an attack in the capital Ankara that killed at least 34 people.
The attack, which tore through a crowded transport hub a few hundred metres (yards) from the Justice and Interior Ministries on Sunday evening, was the second such bombing in the administrative heart of the city in under a month. Turkish forces have targeted Kurdish positions across the border in Syria, and have participated in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group.
On Monday, nine Turkish F-16 and two F-4 fighter jets hit 18 PKK targets in Qandil and Gara regions in northern Iraq.
Turkey has experienced an increase in violence since its ceasefire with the PKK collapsed in June 2015.
Police meanwhile pressed ahead with a security sweep across Turkey, detaining 55 people suspected of being members of a group that is considered the youth wing of the PKK in six provinces, Anadolu reported. In an attempt to get domestic terrorist activity under control, officials are instituting curfews in three towns in the southeastern portion of the country.
“The Ankara blast is a step against Turkey’s anti-terror operations against the PKK, DHKP-C and Daesh”. Twin explosions set off by two suicide bombers outside Ankara’s main train station were targeted at a pro-Kurdish peace rally.
The death toll from the explosion has now risen to 37 people, the government said. More than 100 people were wounded in the blast.
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Announcements made by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Erdogan indicate that “they will instead escalate the existing civil war with Kurds and attack them; and they will try to use this as an opportunity to advance their claims into the Syrian territory”.
