ANKARA: Death toll reaches 27 and 75 injured after a huge explosion was heard in
central Ankara, local media have reported.
The attack took place along a bus stop in the city
while there were reports by NTV newscaster that the attack was in fact a car
bomb near Güvenpark in Kizilay.
The Ankara governor’s office confirmed the death toll
on Sunday night, just hours after the explosion.
CNN Turk had earlier said 25 had been killed. Later it
said that two more people had died en route to hospital. A senior security
official told Reuters the blast was believed to have been caused by a suicide
car bombing.
Ambulances hurried to the scene of the explosion on
Kizilay square, a key hub in the city, and television pictures showed burnt-out
vehicles including a bus.
A local news channel said the explosion occurred as a
car slammed into a bus, suggesting that the blast may have been caused by a car
bomb. Several vehicles had caught fire, it said.
Police sealed off the area and pushed bystanders and
journalists back, warning there could be a second bomb.
The
blast comes two days after the US embassy cautioned its citizens that there was
information about a “potential terrorist plot to attack Turkish government buildings
and housing located in the Bahcelievler area of Ankara”. The embassy warned its
citizens to evade the area. Ankara has been hit by three bombings in the last
five months including the worst terror attack in October during which 103
people were killed.
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