Number of detained suspects in Ankara bombing rises to 20

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

CİHAN photo

The number of suspects detained over the Ankara car bomb attack has risen to 20 on Feb. 19, according to sources from the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Police have conducted operations in Ankara, Adana, Bolu, Tekirdağ, İzmir, Istanbul, Diyarbakır and Gaziantep provinces and detained a total of 20 suspects following the deadly attack.

It has also been claimed that there was evidence linking some suspects to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Earlier on Feb. 19, Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Harun Kodalak said the incident had now “almost been solved.” 

“We have almost solved the incident. Necessary statements will be made by our statesmen soon,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Feb. 18 that 14 suspects in seven provinces had been detained for links to the bombing.

At least 28 people were killed and 61 others were injured in a bomb attack on Feb. 17 targeting shuttles carrying military personnel in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu attended a funeral ceremony at the Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) on Feb. 19 before proceeding to the scene of attack, where a convoy of military vehicles was targeted by a suicide bomber as it passed through the administrative center of the Turkish state, close to parliament, government buildings and the country’s military headquarters.

The prime minister laid 28 carnations for the memory of 28 victims and prayed, accompanied by Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz and Interior Minister Efkan Ala who also laid carnations. 

The side street where the explosion took place is still closed to traffic.

The massive blast struck five buses carrying military service personnel when they stopped at a traffic light in the center of the capital. The attack was the latest in a string of deadly strikes that have rocked Turkey since last summer and one of the deadliest assaults targeting the military in the NATO member state in recent years.

Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan both said the Ankara attack was a joint operation of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in cooperation with the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the militia forces of Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD).