Kurdish TAK says carried out Ankara blast
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A fire truck is seen near the site of a car bomb attack in Ankara, Turkey, February 17, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)
A Turkey-based militant group has claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the capital Ankara that killed 28 people, mostly soldiers, on Wednesday.
According to Press TV, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), in a statement posted on its website, said it carried out the attack in response to the policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“This act was conducted to avenge the massacre of defenseless, injured civilians,” the group said, threatening further attacks.
The bomber, it said, was a 26-year-old Turkish national born in the eastern city of Van. It identified him Abdulbaki Sonmez who carried out the bombing on a Turkish military convoy in Ankara.
The TAK was once linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party but it says its relationship with PKK militants has been severed.
Erdogan has said he had "no doubt" that Syrian Kurdish groups fighting Takfiris carried out the bombing. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a Syrian national with links to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) was behind the attack.
Davutoglu has also accused the Syrian government of being directly responsible for the bombing in Ankara.
ME
