Authorities confirm many people have been killed in twin blasts in Turkish capital Ankara
AUTHORITIES investigating the bombings in Turkey are examining DNA in an attempt to hunt down the suspected bombers, as Islamic State became the prime suspect.
AUTHORITIES investigating the twin suicide bombings at a rally promoting peace with the Kurdish were focusing on the Islamic State group, comparing DNA samples of the suspected bombers with those obtained from families of extremists they suspect could have carried out the attacks, a newspaper close to the government reports.
The news comes as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu shed more light on the investigation, saying Turkey was investigating the Islamic State group as the prime suspect.
Yeni Safak, the paper known to be close to the government, said investigators were testing DNA samples obtained from families of some 20 Turks they believe are IS militants and prepared to carry out suicide bombings.
Today, Prime Minister Davutoglu said: “Looking at how the incident took place, we are probing Daesh as our first priority.”
He said that the attacks were definitely carried out by two suicide bombers.
“We are close to identifying one of the bombers,” he told NTV television, adding that this would help name the organisation behind the attacks.
Davutoglu however remained cautious, saying that authorities were investigating three groups including Islamic State but also the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) as “potential suspects.”
“It would not be accurate to give an indication right now,” he said.
Hurriyet newspaper said the type of device and explosives used in Ankara were the same as those used in the recent Suruc attack.
The government meanwhile, also raised the death toll in Turkey’s deadliest attack in years to 97 and said the victims included a Palestinian. A pro-Kurdish party has said that up to 128 people died in the attacks Saturday outside Ankara’s main train station that targeted Turkish and Kurdish activists who were gathering for a rally to call for increased democracy and an end to the renewed fighting between the Kurdish rebels and Turkey’s security forces that has killed hundred since July.
POSSIBLE LINKS TO ISIS
Turkish authorities nabbed 14 suspected Islamic State militants in a raid following Ankara’s deadly bombings, according to local reports.
The Dogan news agency says the group, which included a woman, was taken away on Sunday following simultaneous raids to homes in the central Turkish city of Konya.
It was not clear if the detentions were related to the twin blasts.
As investigations into the identity of the perpetrators continue, NTV television said the Suruc and Ankara attacks were similar both in style and the type of bombs used. The same forensic experts sent to Suruc are now working in Ankara.
The Hurriyet and Haberturk dailies reported that the elder brother of Abdurrahman Alagoz, who carried out the Suruc suicide bombing, could be implicated in the Ankara blasts.
The Suruc bombing caused one of the most serious flare-ups in Turkey in recent times as the PKK accused the government of collaborating with IS and resumed attacks on the security forces after an over two-year truce.
The military hit back, launching a “war on terror” against the Kurdish militants.
The PKK on Saturday unexpectedly announced it would suspend all attacks - except in self defence - ahead of the polls.
But the Turkish army kept up its campaign with more air raids on southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, killing 49 suspected militants over the last two days, the official Anatolia news agency reported.
TURNBULL: TURKEY BOMBERS ‘COWARDS’
As thousands of grieving protesters took to the streets of Ankara on Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Turnbull offered his condolences and labelled the attacks a “despicable act of cowardice”.
He added that all Australians would be shocked by the blasts.
“We continue to work with our friends and partners to combat this threat. This attack should only strengthen our resolve to work together,” Mr Turnbull said
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also weighed in on the tragedy, saying that she expected a gathering of G20 leaders would go ahead in Turkey next month despite the “depraved” bombings.
Ms Bishop told Sky News that Australia would like to see the G20 meeting proceed in the south-western city of Antalya, saying “we should not allow terrorist attacks to deter world leaders from carrying out very important global work”.
Ms Bishop said she had spoken to Australia’s ambassador in Ankara, who confirmed at this stage no Australians have been killed. She described the attack as “heinous”, especially because it targeted people in a peace rally.
TURKEY’S DEADLIEST ATTACK
Saturday’s attack, described as Turkey’s deadliest in years, threatens to inflame the nation’s ethnic tensions.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Prime Minister said there were “strong signs” that the two explosions — which struck 50 metres apart just after 10am on Saturday — were suicide bombings.
The two explosions occurred seconds apart outside the capital’s main train station as hundreds of opposition supporters and Kurdish activists gathered for the peace rally organised by Turkey’s public workers’ union and other groups.
The protesters planned to call for increased democracy in Turkey and an end to the renewed violence between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces.
FIVE SUICIDE BOMBERS HIT BOKO HARAM SAFE AREA
The attacks came at a tense time for Turkey, a NATO member that borders war-torn Syria, hosts more refugees than any other nation in the world and has seen renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels that has left hundreds dead in the last few months.
Many people at the rally had been anticipating that the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, would declare a temporary ceasefire — which it did hours after the bombing — to ensure that Turkey’s November 1 election would be held in a safe environment.
Television footage from Turkey’s Dogan news agency showed a line of protesters near Ankara’s train station, chanting and performing a traditional dance with their hands locked when a large explosion went off behind them. An Associated Press photographer saw several bodies covered with bloodied flags and banners that demonstrators had brought for the rally.
“There was a massacre in the middle of Ankara,” said Lami Ozgen, head of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said the attacks were carried out with TNT explosives fortified with metal ball-bearings.
The White House said that President Barack Obama called Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express his condolences.
“This massacre targeting a pro-Kurdish but mostly Turkish crowd could flame ethnic tensions in Turkey,” said Soner Cagaptay, an analyst at the Washington Institute.
Cagaptay said the attack could be the work of groups “hoping to induce the PKK, or its more radical youth elements, to continue fighting Turkey,” adding that the Islamic State group would benefit most from the full-blown Turkey-PKK conflict.
“(That) development could make ISIS a secondary concern in the eyes of many Turks to the PKK,” Cagaptay said in emailed comments.
Small anti-government protests broke out at the scene of the explosions and outside Ankara hospitals as Interior Minister Selami Altinok visited the wounded. Some demonstrators chanted “Murderer Erdogan!” — referring to Erdogan, whom many accuse of increasing tensions with Kurds to profit at the ballot box in November. Erdogan denies the accusations.
RISING TENSIONS
An AFP correspondent said the scene of the blast was littered with ball bearings, indicating the explosions were intended to cause maximum damage.
The attack came just under three months after a suicide bombing blamed on the Islamic State group in the town of Suruc, on the Syrian border, killed 33 people. It also targeted peace activists.
The bombings have raised tensions in Turkey just three weeks before snap elections are due on November 1 and as the military wages an offensive against Islamic State jihadists and Kurdish militants.
With the country on edge, Erdogan issued a statement condemning the “heinous” bombings and cancelled a planned visit to Turkmenistan but he has yet to speak in public since the attack that shocked the nation.
Even before the attacks, the president was under immense political pressure after his Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in June 7 polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002.
Coalition talks failed and Erdogan called new elections. But to the disappointment of the AKP, opinion polls show the outcome may be little different to the previous ballot.
The Ankara death toll surpasses that of the May 2013 twin bombings in Reyhanli on the Syrian border that killed over 50 people, making the attack the deadliest in the history of the Turkish Republic.
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