Turkey’s president on Thursday pinned responsibility for the deadly Ankara bombing on a “terror collective” comprising the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group, Turkish and Syrian Kurds and the Syrian intelligence service.
Over 100 people were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the capital’s central train station on October 10, and Turkish authorities have said the ISIS jihadist group is the “number one suspect” for the attack.
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing a union confederation meeting, said “the attack in front of the station reveals how terror is practised collectively. It's a collective terrorist act.”
“The PKK, Daesh, the Mukhabarat, the PYD are all involved. They planned this operation together,” he said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the ISIS group, Syria’s state-controlled military intelligence service and Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
The blasts, which came less than a month before a hotly-contested general election, targeted a pro-Kurdish and liberal peace rally which had called for an end to hostilities between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels.
Pressure has piled on Erdogan ahead of the November 1 poll, with opposition figures blaming him for security lapses over the Ankara bombing and failing to crack down on ISIS.
On Monday, the government confirmed that one of the suicide bombers was Yunus Emre Alagoz, brother of the man suspected of a similar attack in Suruc that killed 34 people in July.
The second suicide bomber has yet to be formally identified but is believed to hail from the same city as Alagoz.
The government has said it is exploring ties between attacks on Suruc, Ankara and the city of Diyarbakir.
Five people were killed in Diyarbakir in June after a bomb exploded during a pre-election campaign rally for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). One man was arrested for involvement in that attack.
A total of 768 people have been arrested over suspected links to ISIS since the Suruc attack in July.

Erdogan: ISIS, Syrian intel, PKK behind blast

Turkish President Erdogan and his Finnish counterpart Niinisto attend a commemoration for the victims of Saturday's bombings in Ankara. (Reuters)
Thursday 22 October 2015
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:49 - GMT 06:49
DAY | WEEK |
-
1790 Views India self-reliant on coronavirus vaccines, says PM Modi, as 1 mln inoculated
-
1108 Views UAE confirms signing $23 bln deal to buy F-35 jets, drones from US
-
1044 Views Top Iran leader Khamenei posts Trump-like golfer image, vows revenge for Soleimani
-
997 Views Israel shoots down drone in Israeli airspace from Lebanon: Army
-
587 Views EU top official Michel phones Russia’s Putin to demand Navalny’s release
-
225 Views New UK variant of COVID-19 may carry higher risk of death, says PM Johnson
-
21413 Views Coronavirus: Doctor in Saudi Arabia leaves hospital after battling virus for 139 days
-
19006 Views Coronavirus: Number of new UAE COVID-19 cases reaches record high
-
16713 Views Airstrikes pound Iran-backed militias south of Iraq’s Baghdad: Reports
-
10602 Views Coronavirus: Dubai orders hospitals to cancel surgeries amid surge in COVID-19 cases
-
7726 Views Coronavirus: Dubai suspends live entertainment permits as COVID-19 cases surge
-
7701 Views Dubai to test launch iconic London Taxi vehicles using hybrid cabs
SHOW MORE