Scores killed in peace rally attack in Turkey
Turkish PM blames suicide bombers as nation mourns
Two powerful blasts rocked the Turkish capital of Ankara early Saturday morning, killing up to 97 people and wounding scores of others in the deadliest attack on the nation’s soil in recent history.
The explosions, which came just seconds apart shortly after 10 a.m., occurred during a crowded peace rally near Ankara’s central train station, where hundreds of demonstrators — many of them supporters of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) — had gathered to protest escalating violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatist insurgents.
Although the official death toll stood at 86 killed and 186 wounded, Selcuk Atalay of the Turkish Medical Association’s Ankara branch said late Saturday that at least 97 people died, the Associated Press reported. He feared the death toll could rise, since several of the wounded were in serious condition with burns.
The official death toll was released in a televised news conference by Turkey’s Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu.
The state-run Anadolu Agency
said the attacks were carried out with TNT explosives fortified with metal ball-bearings. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as the country grapples with mounting violence ahead of parliamentary elections on Nov. 1.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said there were strong indications that the attacks were carried out by two suicide bombers and declared three days of national mourning. “This is an attack that does not target a specific group; it is an attack on the entire nation and an attack on our unity,” Davutoglu said.
Images shared on social media showed chaotic scenes of devastation, with dozens of maimed bodies on the bloodstained ground, some covered with peace banners and colorful flags from the demonstration. About 14,000 people were believed to be in the area, according to local media.
One video widely shared on social media shows a group of young people holding hands and performing a traditional dance just moments before the first explosion ripped through the crowd in the background, sending a plume of fire and smoke into the air.
The U.S. State Department and White House condemned the attack. “The fact that this attack occurred ahead of a planned rally for peace underscores the depravity of those behind it and serves as another reminder of the need to confront shared security challenges in the region,” the White House’s National Security Council spokesman, Ned Price, said in a statement.
Turkey is facing numerous security threats linked to both domestic and regional unrest, which has pushed Ankara to launch a crackdown on Islamic State, Kurdish and far-left militants.
In recent months, the NATO ally country has taken a more active role in the U.S.led fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, carrying out a limited num- ber of airstrikes against the group while opening up its bases to coalition aircraft.
At the same time, Turkey has launched a military campaign against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in response to what it said were increasing attacks on security forces, effectively shattering a fragile 2year-old ceasefire with the militants who have been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in a war that has claimed some 40,000 lives over three decades.
HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, whose party has faced numerous attacks in the run-up to the June 7 poll as well as the upcoming snap elections, lashed out at the Turkish government.
“We have lost almost 150 of our people before and after the elections,” he told reporters in Ankara. “There is nobody who has been designated as ‘responsible’ and no effective investigation— there will be none regarding today’s attack either. This is not an attack against unity of our state and nation. This is an attack by our nation against our people.”
“This is ... an attack on the entire nation and an attack on our unity.” Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish prime minister