29-03-2024 04:24 AM Jerusalem Timing

Turkey Blames Kurds for Ankara Blast, PYD Denies, Points to ISIL

Turkey Blames Kurds for Ankara Blast, PYD Denies, Points to ISIL

Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants for a car bombing targeting a military convoy in Ankara. However the Democratic Union Party (PYD) denied any relation with the attack, stressing it was carried out by Takfiri group, ISIL

Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants for a car bombing targeting a military convoy in Ankara. However the Democratic Union Party (PYD) denied any relation with the attack, stressing it was carried out by Takfiri group, ISIL.

The massive car bomb struck five buses carrying military service personnel when it stopped at a red traffic light in the centre of the capital on Wednesday evening, Killing 28 people and injuring 61 others.

Also Thursday, at least six soldiers were killed in an attack on their convoy in southeastern Turkey blamed on Kurdish militants, security sources said.Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Ankara attack was carried out by operatives of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in cooperation with the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

"It has with certainty been revealed that this attack was carried out by members of the terrorist organization in Turkey in cooperation with a YPG member who infiltrated from Syria," Davutoglu told reporters.
"The attack has direct links with YPG."

He said the bomber was a Syrian national named Salih Necar and that nine people had been detained over the attack.

Davutoglu vowed to make the culprits "pay a price," saying Turkey would take any kind of measure on its border including self-defence.

For its part, the YPG and its political wing the Democratic Union Party (PYD) deny being PKK branches and argue they have no interest in attacking Turkey.

PYD head Saleh Muslim on Thursday denied any responsibility for the Ankara attack.

"We deny any involvement in this attack," Saleh Muslim told AFP, accusing ISIL (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant) of being responsible for the attack.