“We are close to identifying one of the bombers”, he told NTV television, adding that this would help name the organisation behind the attacks.
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No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, which occurred at Ankara’s main train station but which struck as a rally organised by pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups was under way nearby.
A few local media have implicated the brother of a man who carried out an IS bombing in the southern border town of Suruc in July, which killed more than 30 people.
UPI reported Turkish officials as saying that Saturday’s air strikes had killed 14 rebels in southwestern Turkey, while Sunday’s attacks targeted parts of northern Iraq, killing over 35 rebels.
Turkey’s government has raised the death toll to 97 from the bombing of a weekend peace rally.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that DNA tests were underway and that investigators were close to identifying one of the bombers.
The attack is the deadliest in the country’s recent history and was labelled a terrorist act by the government, which declared three days of national mourning.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, however, rejected accusations by opponents that the government was to blame for the almost simultaneous attacks Saturday, calling them “dangerous” and “dastardly”.
More than 140 soldiers and police have been killed in PKK bombings and shootings since the return to open conflict, compared with around 1,700 militants, nearly all from the PKK, state-run Anatolia news agency said last week.
More than 40 suspected ISIL militants have now been detained in four cities but it is not clear if the arrests are linked to Saturday’s bombings, the Associated Press reported. There are no known advances in the investigation into either attack, although the government has indicated that the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) may be responsible.
The Turkish government has been a frequent combatant of the PKK militant group since their ceasefire ended in July. Speaking at the Sıhhıye area where the incident took place, Demirtas called on Turkish people to be calm and express their voice in the upcoming November 1 snap election.
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A few members of the largely Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, which stunned Turkey by winning enough seats in parliament in the June elections to stymie Erdogan’s ambitions, have gone so far as to accuse the Turkish president of failing to prevent the massacre.
