At least 30 people were killed on Saturday in twin explosions in
Turkey's capital Ankara, targeting activists gathering for a peace rally
organised by leftist and pro-Kurdish opposition groups.
Corpses
of activists were seen strewn across the ground after the blasts, with
the banners they had been holding lying next to them.
At least 30 people were killed and 126 wounded, the interior ministry said in a statement giving the first official toll.
"We curse and condemn this atrocious attack taking aim at our democracy and our country's peace," the statement said.
A
Turkish government official told AFP that the authorities "suspect that
there is a terrorist connection," without giving further details.
From peace demonstration to massacre
There were scenes of chaos after the blast, as
ambulances searched for the wounded and police cordoned off the area.
"We
heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a
a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station,"
said Ahmet Onen, aged 52.
"A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre, I don't understand this," he said, in floods of tears.
Turkish
police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators angered by the deaths
of their fellow activists from the scene, an AFP correspondent said.
Amateur
footage broadcast by NTV television showed smiling activists holding
hands and dancing and then falling to the ground as the huge explosion
went off behind them.
Initial reports spoke of a single explosion but Turkish media said later there had been two separate blasts in short sequence.
The
authorities were exploring the possibility that the blasts could have
been caused by a suicide bomber, the official Anatolia news agency said.
'Barbaric attack'Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had been briefed over the blast by Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Anatolia said.
"We
are investigating the explosion and will share our findings with the
public as soon as possible," a Turkish official told AFP, without giving
further details.
The area was to have hosted an anti-government
peace rally organised by several leftist groups later in the day,
including the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
"We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed," said the HDP's leader Selahattin Demirtas.
The attack comes with Turkey on edge ahead of 1 November polls and a wave of unrest over the past few months.
An
attack in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc on 20 July targeting
pro-HDP activists and blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists killed 32
people and wounded a hundred others.
The militant Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) accused Ankara of collaborating with IS and resumed
attacks on the Turkish security forces after observing a two-year
ceasefire.
Over 140 members of the security forces have since been
killed while Ankara claims to have killed over 1 700 Kurdish militants
in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern
Iraq.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Over 30 dead in suspected terrorist attack on Ankara peace rally
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