A massive car bomb exploded in a busy square in central Ankara earlier today killing at least 27 people and wounded 75 others, the provincial governor’s office said.
“The blast was caused by a vehicle packed with explosives close to Kizilay square,” an official statement said. The square is a key commercial and transport hub close to the city’s embassy area.
Ambulances rushed to the scene of the explosion.
Turkish television pictures showed burnt-out vehicles including a bus.
The incident comes just weeks after 29 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack targeting the military in Ankara on February 17 that was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said it carried out the February bombing as revenge for operations by the Turkish military in the southeast of the country and warned foreign tourists not to visit Turkey.
Turkish security forces have been waging a major offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since December, imposing strict 24-hour curfews in a number of towns and cities in the southeast.
Today’s blast came as the authorities hit two more towns in the Kurdish-dominated southeast with curfews.
Turkey has been hit by a spate of deadly attacks since the middle of last year, most of them blamed on Daesh.
In the deadliest bombing ever on Turkish soil, 103 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in twin suicide bombings targeting a pro-Kurdish peace rally in Ankara in October last year. (Agencies)
