Two powerful bombs ripped through the main train station in Ankara on Saturday morning, killing at least 100 people and injuring 186 others in the deadliest attack in the Turkish capital in recent years.
The explosion that caused carnage targeted a crowd in a peace rally calling for peace in the fighting between the government and the Kurdish group the PKK. About 14,000 people were in the area, according to reports.
Initially Turkey’s health minister confirmed 86 people were killed in the blasts and 126 were wounded. But on Saturday night, the Turkish government raised the death toll to 95.The death toll is expected to climb.
he Turkish president, Tayyip Erdoğan, condemned the double bombing, saying the attack targeted the country’s unity and peace. Erdoğan said: “I strongly condemn this heinous attack on our unity and our country’s peace.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for three days of national mourning after Saturday’s deadly bombing in Ankara.
Davutoglu said that two suicide bombers were responsible for the attack, which officials said killed at least 86 people and injured 186.
“This is an attack that does not target a specific group; it is an attack on the entire nation and an attack on our unity. Turkey is a country that has managed to maintain peace in the region,” he said.
He called for the country to fight terrorism. “No matter what its origin, aim or name, we are against any form of terrorist act or terrorist organisation. We are obliged to be against it together.”
“There was a massacre in the middle of Ankara,” said Lami Ozgen, head of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK.
Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chair of the HDP party, said : “We are witnessing a massacre here. A cruel and barbarian attack was carried out. The death toll is high.”
Courtesy: IRIA
