Kurdish TAK militants claim responsibility for Ankara bombing
A Kurdish militant group with ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for the recent car bombing in the Turkish capital, Ankara, which left more than three dozen people dead.
“On the evening of March 13, an attack was carried out... in the streets of the capital of the fascist Turkish republic. We claim this attack,” the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said in a statement on their website on Thursday.
The group added that the attack was in response to the Turkish army operations in the mostly Kurdish-populated towns of southeastern Turkey.
Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region over the past few months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensive operations against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.
The campaign began in response to a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, carried out a number of attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.
At least 37 people lost their lives and dozens of others sustained injuries on March 13, when a car bomb went off in Ankara’s central Kizilay neighborhood.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced late on Monday that police had arrested 11 people in connection with the deadly blast.
Turkish investigators later identified the bomber as 24-year-old PKK member Seher Cagla Demir, who was allegedly trained by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in neighboring crisis-hit Syria.
The attack came three weeks after TAK said it was behind a bombing on a Turkish military convoy in Ankara, which killed 29 people. Most of the victims were soldiers.
The bomber was identified as 26-year-old Turkish national Abdulbaki Sonmez.
Protesters, police clash over Nowrouz ban
Meanwhile, pro-Kurdish demonstrators clashed with Turkish security forces in Istanbul’s Hadji Ahmet district over a recent ban on the celebrations of Nowruz - the traditional New Year.
On Wednesday, protesters hurled Molotov cocktails and other explosives at Turkish police, who fired tear gas canisters and gunfire in response. There were no reports of injuries or arrests.
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