Islamic State is the focus of investigations into a twin suicide
bombing that killed at least 97 people in the Turkish capital Ankara and
investigators are close to identifying one of the suspects, Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday.
Speaking on Turkish
broadcaster NTV in a live interview, Davutoglu said Saturday's attack
was an attempt to influence the outcome of a parliamentary election on 1
November and that necessary steps would be taken if security failures
were found to have contributed to the bombing.
"It was definitely a
suicide bombing. DNA tests are being conducted. It was determined how
the suicide bombers got there. We're close to a name, which points to
one group," he said of the worst attack in Turkey of its kind.
Two
senior security sources told Reuters on Sunday that initial signs
suggested Islamic State was behind the attack, and that it bore striking
similarity to a
July suicide bombing in Suruc near the Syrian border,
also blamed on the radical Islamists.
The
two explosions happened seconds apart on Saturday as hundreds gathered
for a march organised by pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups to
protest over a conflict between Turkish security forces and Kurdish
militants in the southeast.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic
Party (HDP), which said it was the target of the attack, has put the
death toll at 128 and said it had identified all but eight of those
bodies. Davutoglu's office has said 97 people were killed.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Islamic State is prime suspect in Turkey bombing
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Write comments