Turkish capital Ankara has been hit by another deadly explosion, less than a month after a auto bomb killed at least 28 people.
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A large explosion in Turkey’s capital, believed to have been caused by a bomb, has caused several casualties, according to news reports.
Several vehicles at the scene were reduced to burned-out wrecks, including at least one bus.
A Turkish official later said that initial findings suggest PKK or a PKK-affiliated terrorist organization carried out the attack.
Mehmet Muezzinoglu said 125 people are being treated at various city hospitals, of whom 19 are in a critical condition.
The blast, the second such attack in less than a month to hit the city, engulfed cars, buses and people gathered in a popular spot not far from the nation’s parliament.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s killings, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said investigators were following up on solid leads. It said the area was crowded when the explosion happened at 6:43pm (1643 GMT).
Major opposition parties in Turkey, the Republican Peoples’ Party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, and the nationalist Movement Party, had all condemned attack.
Some 210 people have died in five suicide bomb attacks in Turkey since July that were blamed either on the Kurdish rebels or the Islamic State group.
Erdogan said in a statement that terror groups were targeting civilians because they were losing the battle against Turkish security forces.
CNN military analyst Rick Francona said that the attack, the latest in a line of deadly bombings in the capital attributed to the PKK, would precipitate change in the government’s stance.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government would “never abandon its right to legitimate defence against the terrorist menace”.
The blast, which could be heard several kilometres away, sent burning debris showering down over an area a few hundred meters (yards) from the Justice and Interior Ministries, a top courthouse, and the former office of the prime minister. Turkey’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies, including the United States, Britain and Germany, have deployed fighter jets to Incirlik base in Turkish province Adana near Syria border. Tens of thousands of people have also been displaced by the fighting. Interior Minister Efkan Ala confirmed the suspicions but still stated that the final verdict would be declared on Monday as to who is behind the attack, after a thorough investigation.
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In February, Kurdish militants killed almost 30 people on another busy Ankara street where military buses operated.
