PKK-affiliated group claims Ankara attack

ISTANBUL

REUTERS photo

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a terror group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack that killed 35 people in the capital Ankara, according to a statement on its website on March 17.

The group described the car bombing, which occurred on March 13, as “vengeful action” for security operations in the southeast that have been underway since July. It also said that the attack was made by Demir code-named “Doğa Jiyan.”    
    
TAK previously claimed responsibility for a separate car bombing in Ankara last month that killed 29 people. TAK says it split from the PKK. Experts who follow Kurdish militants say the groups retain ties. 

The suicide bomber was identified as Seher Çağla Demir, who was a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) born in 1992, according to the Interior Ministry. She received training with the the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD), after crossing into Syria.

Thirty-one of the people injured in the March 13 suicide bombing attack continue to receive treatment at hospitals across the capital, with nine still in intensive care, said the Health Ministry on March 17.