ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A car bombing in Turkey’s capital has killed at least 27 people and wounded around 75 others on Sunday, officials said.
The blast occurred on the city’s main boulevard, Ataturk Bulvari, close to Ankara’s main square, Kizilay. It happened adjacent to bus stops near a park.
The private NTV news channel said a car, believed to be laden with explosives, detonated close to a bus. Several vehicles then caught fire, it said. The area is close to government offices, including ministries.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was convening an emergency security meeting.
The deadly explosion — the third in the city in five months — came just three weeks after a suicide car bombing in the capital targeted buses carrying military personnel, killing 29 people. A Kurdish militant group which is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for the Feb. 17 attack.
Sunday’s attack also came two days after the U.S. Embassy issued a security warning about a potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing in one Ankara neighborhood and asked its citizens to avoid those areas.
The explosion shattered the windows of shops that line Kizilay square
Dogan Asik, 28, said he was on a bus when the explosion occurred.
“We were thrown further back into the bus from the force of the explosion,” said Asik, who sustained injuries on his face and arm.
Police sealed off the area and pushed onlookers and journalists back, warning there could be a second bomb.
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Not surprising, considering Erdogan’s Crimes Against Humanity and Against the Kurds. Like dubya and Obama, these guys are bringing the violence home because they attack innocent people by the millions worldwide. Karma, but sadly, We The People pay for Erdogan’s / dubya’s / Obama’s crimes, not the perps. Due to Obama and dubya, you can no longer hitchhike across the NE and ME like I did in Spring, 1969, from Indiana to Kathmandu. No problem, mon. Try it now. Even then, we who were cheap world travelers had Canadian flags sewn onto the outside of our backpacks, further insuring safety. Not much has changed in that way, now that a decent person is leading Canada again. Canada does not have the same hatred against it that the USA does - obviously, and obviously due to those millions of dead and disabled human reasons courtesy of the Great Evil.