ANKARA: At least 34 people died and more than 135 people wounded as a car bomb ripped through a busy square in central Ankara , the capital of Turkey on Sunday, TheNewsTribe.com learnt from international media.
he blast at a bus stop near Kizilay square is the second major attack in the heart of the Turkish capital in less than a month, after a suicide car bombing on February 17 targeting the military that killed 29 people, claimed by a dissident faction of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The fact that militants were able to strike again so soon in an area close to the prime minister s office, parliament and foreign embassies will raise fresh questions about Turkey s ability to manage the twin security threat posed by the Islamic State group (IS) and Kurdish rebels.
Health minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said the blast had killed 34 people and wounded 125 others, 19 of them seriously.
“Thirty people were killed on the spot and four others died in hospital,” Muezzinoglu said after a meeting of ministers and security officials called by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after the blast.
Ambulances ferried the wounded from the square, a bustling commercial area and local transport hub, to 10 different city hospitals.
The force of the explosion, which hit at around 6:45 pm (1645 GMT), reduced several vehicles to charred husks and damaged nearby shops.
A statement from the Ankara provincial governor s office confirmed it was a car bomb, while a security official told AFP that initial findings showed the blast was a suicide attack.
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