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Blast strikes military convoy in Turkish capital; at least 20 killed Blast strikes military convoy in Turkish capital; at least 28 killed
(about 4 hours later)
An apparent car bomb targeted a Turkish military convoy Wednesday, officials said, killing at least 20 people, injuring dozens and leaving burning debris in the heart of the country’s capital. ISTANBUL — A bomb blast in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara, killed 28 people Wednesday, deepening a sense of crisis enveloping Turkey as it grapples with wars on three fronts.
The explosion in Ankara came a month after a deadly suicide blast near Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque, an attack believed linked to the Islamic State in attempts to cripple Turkey’s important tourism industry. The explosion appeared to have been caused by a car bomb that detonated as a military bus paused at a traffic light in a central neighborhood that houses the nation’s parliament and government headquarters, according to Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency. In addition to the deaths, at least 61 people were injured in the fireball that engulfed the bus and ignited trees in a nearby park at the height of the evening rush hour.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest violence. A Kurdish separatist faction also has waged attacks on the Turkish military. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which came amid increasing challenges from the civil war in neighboring Syria, Turkey’s own intensifying feud with Turkish Kurds and the rising threat posed by the Islamic State.
Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu told reporters Wednesday that 20 or 21 people were killed in what he described as a bomb attack on buses carrying military personnel. A statement from the office of Ankara’s governor said at least 45 people were injured in the explosion. An earlier statement said the blast appeared to be a car bomb, the Associated Press reported. A suicide bombing that killed 10 German tourists near the landmark Blue Mosque in Istanbul in January, a double suicide attack that claimed more than 100 lives at a peace rally in Ankara in October and another that killed over 30 Kurds in southern Turkey last summer were all widely blamed on the Islamic State, though no group claimed responsibility. The attacks followed Turkey’s agreement to join a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and allow U.S. warplanes to launch attacks on the militants from Turkish bases.
The tally, however, did not distinguish between possible military and civilian casualties during the busy evening rush hour. If the toll is mostly military, it would mark one of the bloodiest attacks in years against Turkish forces.
[Istanbul bloodshed also seeks to wound key tourism industry][Istanbul bloodshed also seeks to wound key tourism industry]
The regional governor, Mehmet Kiliclar, told private NTV television that the blast targeted a military convoy as it traveled near a compound used by Turkey’s armed forces. The area also is close to Turkey’s parliament. In this instance, however, Turkish authorities were swift to blame the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the Kurdish nationalist movement that has been waging war against the Turkish state for most of the past 30 years. Turkey and the United States both designate the PKK as a terrorist organization. The Turkish military in recent months has been pursuing a fierce campaign to crush PKK fighters and sympathizers, turning many of the Kurdish-majority cities in southeastern Turkey into war zones.
Flames spread across the roadway and smoke rose over the area. Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, canceled a planned trip to Brussels and joined authorities in an emergency security meeting in Ankara. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately canceled a state visit to Azerbaijan and vowed retaliation, though he did not specify against whom.
Turkey has been hit by several major attacks over the past year. “Our determination to respond in kind to attacks taking place inside and outside our borders is getting stronger with such acts,” he said in a statement. “It must be known that Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self defense at any time, any place or any occasion.”
On Jan. 12, a suicide bomber believed linked to the Islamic State detonated a blast in the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district, killing at least 10 people — all members of a German tour group. This attack also coincided with Turkey’s recent intervention to halt advances in northern Syria by Syrian Kurdish fighters who have taken advantage of Russian airstrikes in the area to expand territory they control along the Turkish border. Over the weekend, Turkish troops began firing artillery at positions of the Syrian Kurdish YPG, or People’s Protection Units, after Kurdish fighters routed rebels backed by Turkey and the West from several key positions near the border.
In October, two suicide attackers set off bombs outside Ankara’s main train station during a peace rally, killing about 100 people. Turkish officials said the attack also was linked to the Islamic State. The battles in northern Syria have created friction with the United States, which has supported the YPG because of the role it plays in battling the extremist Islamic State. Turkey, however, regards the YPG as a terrorist organization because of its close ties with the PKK.
Turkey, a NATO member, has attempted to crack down on smuggling routes used by the Islamic State to supply its strongholds in neighboring Syria. Last year, Turkey also allowed U.S. warplanes to use a base near the Syrian border for airstrikes against Islamic State targets. With Turkey blaming the PKK for Wednesday’s attack, there is a risk that the government in Ankara will now wade deeper into the Syrian conflict, said Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Affairs, who believes the Kurdish militants are the most likely suspects.
At the same time, Turkey has stepped up military operations against separatist Kurdish factions in the country. The PKK has a history of targeting barracks and buses carrying off-duty military personnel, though it rarely strikes quite so brazenly at the heart of the Turkish establishment. If the PKK was responsible, “this is a big escalation,” he said. “I expect a pretty severe reaction from Ankara.”
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has struck back against military sites and personnel in the past, but many of the attacks have been in southeastern Turkey, several hundred miles from Ankara, in the heartland of the country’s Kurdish minority. Turkey may also escalate its crackdown against the domestic Kurdish opposition, a campaign that has already killed hundreds and displaced nearly 200,000 people, said Henri Barkey of the Wilson Center. He suspects that the Islamic State is the most likely perpetrator, because the attack “exacerbates tensions between Kurds and the Turkish government, and that is what they want.”
Turkey also has warned Kurds in Syria against attempts to seek territorial gains amid the chaos. Turkish forces began cross-border shelling this week of Syrian Kurdish positions, claiming that the fighters seek to tighten their grip along the frontier. A third possible suspect is the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front, a far-leftist group known as the DHKP-C, which has also carried out suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks against Turkish government targets in recent years. Turkish news media reported Tuesday that a suspected DHKP-C suicide attacker had been detained in southern Turkey.
The Syrian Kurds, meanwhile, have received U.S. backing as part of a coalition against the Islamic State. Murphy reported from Washington.
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