Sun 01 October 2023:
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday that injured two people, Agence France-Presse reported.
Two attackers detonated a bomb in front of Turkish government buildings in Ankara on Sunday, leaving both of them dead and two police officers wounded.
A bomb attack was carried out by two terrorists who arrived in a vehicle in front of Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs' General Directorate of Security. One terrorist blew himself up, while another was neutralized.
Başkent Ankara'da terör saldırısı girişimi pic.twitter.com/Gvm6QrnVQo
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) October 1, 2023
A statement from the ANF news agency described the bombing as a “suicide attack” planned to coincide with the opening of the parliament. It said the attack was carried out by “a team of ours linked to our Immortals Battalion” group.
The PKK is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
The targeted district is home to several other ministries and the Turkish parliament, which reopened as planned in the afternoon with an address from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“The villains who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not achieved their objectives and will never achieve them,” Erdoğan told the parliament.
The interior ministry said two attackers arrived in a commercial vehicle around 9:30 am (0630 GMT) in front of “the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of our Ministry of the Interior, and carried out a bomb attack.”
“One of the terrorists blew himself up. The other was killed by a bullet to the head before he had a chance to blow himself up,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a press statement outside the ministry.
“Two of our police officers were slightly injured” in the exchange of fire, but their lives were not in danger, he added.
The bomb on Ataturk Boulevard was the first in Ankara since March 2016, when 37 people were killed after a bomb-laden car exploded at a crowded central transport hub.
Police said they carried out controlled explosions for “suspicious package incidents” in other parts of Ankara.
The incident came almost a year after six people were killed and 81 wounded in an explosion in a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul. Turkey blamed Kurdish fighters for that.
During a series of bloody incidents in 2015 and 2016, Kurdish, ISIL and other groups either claimed or were blamed for several attacks in major Turkish cities.
Turkey’s parliament is expected to consider ratifying Sweden’s bid to join NATO in the coming weeks after Ankara raised initial objections and delayed the enlargement of the bloc.
Erdogan did not mention Sweden or NATO, but told members of parliament that agreeing on a new constitution was a priority for the new session. The parliament speaker said its agenda would not surrender to “terror”.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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