Turkey: 28 dead and 61 injured as bomb rocks capital in rush hour

AT least 28 people were killed last night and 61 injured in an explosion that rocked the Turkish capital during rush hour.

The suspected car bomb was timed to go off as vehicles stopped at red lights just 300m away from the parliament and military headquarters.

The governor of Ankara, Mehmet Kilicer, said the attack targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying military personnel.

It was last night not clear who was behind the bombing. Kurdish rebels, Islamic State jihadists and a leftist-extremist group have carried out attacks in the country recently.

The capital was already on alert after 103 people were killed on October 10 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of peace activists – the bloodiest attack in the country’s modern history. And 11 German tourists were killed on January 16 when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the heart of Istanbul.

Those attacks were blamed on IS, as were two other deadly bombings in the country’s Kurdish-dominated southeast earlier in the year.

The attack comes as the Turkish government is facing an array of challenges.

A fragile peace process with the Kurdish rebels collapsed in the summer.

The country has also been helping US-led efforts to combat IS in neighbouring Syria.

And recent airstrikes by Russian and Syrian forces have prompted tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to flee to Turkey’s border – but they have not been let in.