Turkish PM declared 3-day national mourning and pointed to four outlawed outfits as possible suspects of the country’s largest terror tragedy ever
A funeral procession of a victim of the twin bombings in Ankara in Istanbul on October 11
Ankara: The toll in the deadly twin explosions that rocked the Turkish capital Ankara ahead of a peace rally has risen to 95 with more among the over 200 injured, the prime minister’s office announced on Sunday.
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A funeral procession of a victim of the twin bombings in Ankara in Istanbul on October 11. Pic/AFP
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has declared a three-day national mourning and pointed to four outlawed organisations as possible suspects of the country’s largest terror tragedy ever.
“The organisations that possess such a capacity are obvious,” he said during a press meeting in Ankara.
The four organisations he hinted at were the Islamic State (IS), the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), along with two “Leftist” organisations, namely, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP).
The explosions occurred on Saturday near the main train station of the city where People's Democratic Party (HDP) supporters were gathering to hold a rally to protest the conflict between the state and outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in southeast Turkey.
According to Health Minister Mehmet Muezzionglu, a total of 246 people were under treatment, 48 of them in intensive care.
Nine policemen were also injured. However, no organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
The rally was organised by several unions, civic society organisations and pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) to demand an end to the violence between the Kurdish separatist PKK militants and the Turkish government. Violence has escalated sharply in Turkey, with the PKK stepping up attacks on security forces.
An HDP rally in the city of Diyarbakir was bombed in June, ahead of general elections in which the party entered parliament for the first time.
In July, a suicide bombing by suspected IS militants on a gathering of socialist youth activists in the town of Suruc on the Syrian border killed at least 30 people.
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