Turkey's Kurdish PKK claims responsibility for Ankara attack

 
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack in the Turkish capital. Two attackers had detonated a bomb in front of a government building in Ankara. The assault left both of them dead and wounded two police officers.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage obtained by Reuters showed a vehicle pulling up to the Interior Ministry's main gate and one of its occupants walking quickly towards the building before being engulfed in an explosion, while the other remained on the street.

The blast killed one of the terrorists and the authorities "neutralised", or killed, the other, the interior minister said of the incident that rattled a central district that is home to ministerial buildings and nearby Parliament.

"A sacrificial action was carried out against the Turkish Interior Ministry by a team from our Immortal Brigade," the PKK told the ANF news agency, which is close to the Kurdish movement.

Turkish authorities said Sunday's incident was the capital's first terrorist attack in years.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. It is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
In a speech at the opening of a new parliamentary session hours later, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the morning attack "the latest attempt" to inflict terror on Turks.

"Those who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not achieved their goals and never will," he said.
The bombing on Ataturk Boulevard was the first in Ankara since 2016, when a spate of deadly attacks gripped the country.

Video afterward showed a Renault cargo vehicle parked there, windows shattered and doors open amid debris and surrounded by

soldiers, ambulances, fire trucks and armoured vehicles.

A senior Turkish official told Reuters the attackers had hijacked the vehicle and killed its driver in Kayseri, a city 260km south-east of Ankara, before carrying out the attack.

One of the injured officers suffered shrapnel injuries, he added.

"Two terrorists came with a light commercial vehicle in front of the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of our Ministry of Internal Affairs and carried out a bomb attack," Mr Ali Yerlikaya, the Interior Minister, said on social media platform X.

He added the two officers were slightly injured in the incident at 9.30am local time.

"Our struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised," he said, echoing condemnation by other Turkish officials.

Past attacks

Police said they carried out controlled explosions for "suspicious package incidents" in other parts of Ankara.
The incident comes 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 militants for the attack.

During a spate of violence in 2015 and 2016, Kurdish militants, Islamic State and other groups either claimed or were blamed for several attacks in major Turkish cities.

In March 2016, 37 people were killed in Ankara when a bomb-laden car exploded at a crowded central transport hub.
Ankara's chief prosecutor launched an investigation on Sunday into what it also called a terrorist attack.

Turkey's Parliament is expected to consider ratifying Sweden's bid to join Nato in coming weeks, after Turkey had raised initial objections and delayed enlargement of the bloc.

Mr Erdogan did not mention Sweden or Nato, but told Members of Parliament that agreeing to a new Constitution was a priority for the new session. The Parliament Speaker said its agenda would not surrender to terror.

Mr Charles Michel, European Council president, said he strongly condemned what he called the terrorist attack, while EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said it supports Turkey "in its fight against terrorism".

>>Agency