Suicide bomber detonates device in Turkey’s capital Ankara hours before president’s speech
- The attack happened hours before Turkey’s parliament was expected to reopen after its summer recess with an address by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
- ANF News, an agency close to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), reported on Sunday that the group had claimed responsibility for the blast
A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara, while a second assailant was killed in a shoot-out with police on Sunday, the interior minister said.
The attack happened hours before Turkey’s parliament was set to reopen after its three-month summer recess with an address by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Two police officers were slightly wounded in the bombing near an entrance to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Assailants who arrived at the scene inside a light commercial vehicle carried out the attack, he said.
“Our heroic police officers, through their intuition, resisted the terrorists as soon as they got out of the vehicle,” Yerlikaya later told reporters. “One of them blew himself up, while the other one was shot in the head before he had a chance to blow himself up.”
“Our fight against terrorism, their collaborators, the (drug) dealers, gangs and organised crime organisations will continue with determination,” he said.
The interior minister did not say who was behind the attack. However, ANF News, a news agency close to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, reported on Sunday night that the group had claimed responsibility for the blast.