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Updated 20.22
AT LEAST 28 PEOPLE have died with 61 wounded after a car bombing targeting military service vehicles in the Turkish capital Ankara.
The updated death toll was relayed by the country’s deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus to reporters.
It is being reported that the explosion occurred near a military building. It is understood to have been targeting vehicles that were carrying military personnel.
Officials believe the explosion was caused by a car bomb.
Kurtulmus condemned the attack and vowed to “shed all light” on the bombing, but said there was no indication yet who may have carried it out. The toll substantially raised the previously reported toll of 18 dead.
The explosion has forced the cancellation of an EU-Turkey mini-summit on refugees according to EU sources.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this evening vowed that Turkey was more determined than ever to use its right to “self-defence” in the wake of the deadly attack.
“Our determination to respond in kind to attacks taking place inside and outside our borders is getting stronger with such acts,” Erdogan said in a statement.
It must be known that Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defence at any time, any place or any occasion.
AFP said that plumes of smoke could be seen rising over an area close to a residential compound for the military.
CNN Turkey is reporting that military vehicles were targeted, and that people have been injured.
AP reports that Turkey’s state-run agency says the government has imposed a media gag order following the bombing.
The Anadolu Agency said that the gag order bans media organisations from broadcasting or printing graphic images of the dead or injured from the scene of the explosion. The blast occurred in an area near military headquarters and parliament.
Turkey has imposed similar bans after previous attacks.
Turkey’s prime minister has cancelled a planned visit to Brussels following the explosion.
Ambulances and fire brigades are on their way to the scene.
Additional reporting from AFP and AP
Originally published 17.10
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Turkey is posed to invade Syria will this push them one step closer
With any luck, cultured civilization will prevail eventually, war is at our door step but no collective government intervention. Hopefully not militant.
That’s the idea. They’ve been shelling the YPG and Assad for the past 3 days or so.
The Turkish people are notoriously jingoistic and the Erdogan knows it. Wink, wink.
Turkeys new normal are bombings like this
Russia are currently bombing moderate Turkman, next week it could be Turks they are bombing on Assads orders
Uyghurs are actually a Turkic people, millions of whom live in western China, they are defending their brother moderate Turkmen
Would that be the same moderates who shot at Russian pilots as they parachuted from their aircraft, killing one?
would that be the same pilots who were bombing their villages over recent months? they got off lightly
Ww3 is looming because all the heavy hitters are operating in that one small area, ww1 was ignited by a small incident but at that time nuclear weapons hadn’t yet been invented this time if a mistake occurs and a major war ignites billions will die from nuclear radiation which is a rather nasty and very slow and painful way to die
so many people selling the brand ww3, the same as ww1 & ww2 but featuring NUKES, how about the idea that ww3 has been a long cold war fought with lots of proxy battles like Syria since the end of ww2
Good point
You could well be right, sigh!
Well it wouldn’t really be a world war considering its small localised wars
They blamed the Kurdish peace march bombing on ISIS, their allies, as a prelude to ratchet up their involvement further. This will be green light further forays into Syria to attack the Kurds and prevent them from closing off the northern corridor from Aleppo to the border.
The fact over 140 Kurds were killed in two basements in Cizre and Azaz over the past weeks was missed by all major media sources. Men, women and children bombed and buried alive. In fact, the reports of all the recent tit for tat against the Kurds in Southern Turkey seems to have been suppressed to just allow Erdogan build his case for an invasion or further forays into Syria. Stinks to high heaven but shows what happens when the West kow tow’s to a leader like Erdogan, a virulent dangerous weasel who feels he’s got most the aces up his sleeve now!
More danger and slaughter ahead as the innocent pay for Turkish regional hegemonic ambitions!
@chicinho…….Absolutely shocking destruction and death in Cizre. And the Turks are not finished yet there and eslewhere murdering the Kurds!
Where is the Neo Nazi BDS crowd when this is going on on a daily basis in Turkey? Where is the call for boycotting Turkey?
Perhaps they are holidaying in Turkey while consulting with multi-billionaire leaders of Hamas and the PA.
imposed a media gag’ Another RED FLAG guess who they will blame.
Gleiwitz… I wouldn’t trust the Turkish prez as far as I could throw him.
@hotbank.I think you may be correct. Most certainly, this bombing is very perfectly timed, its well known that turkey wants to get their hands on the border lands in Syria.
There was a bombing just before the election last year and now again just before the Kurds wipe out what’s left of Erdogans proxies in the north Aleppo countryside. Some coincidence on both occasions.
An ISIS training drill gone wrong?
Another set up,bet they blame Russia.
Wow, I’d say they’re sorry they let all the crazy Islamic militants into Syria. And that they repress the Kurds. Big ‘blowback ‘ coming their way!
One can surely not expect to lets ones border be used to bring in weapons, supplies and most of all fighters including IS and on top of that to concentrate more on killing Kurds than killing the ‘official’ biggest threat which is claimed to be IS.
We hear of daily bombardment by Turkish artillery firing across the Syrian border at Kurds and nobody says boo.
This latest incident might be used as a pretext to get further involved in Syria, if they are already not involved enough with the Saudi’s and other such democracy loving nations.
The problem is that Turkey is in NATO and they risk getting that organisation involved with their publicly stated goal of removing Assad. Something like a school bully picking on others until they get a bleeding nose and then go crying to their big brother for help. Perhaps NATO needs to tell them to back off a little bit.
Take me back to the supposed minute silence at a football match after the Paris attacks!!
OMG, hell is breaking out, God love everyone there and people trying to ensure loved ones are safe. Ankara is a beautiful city and in the turmoils of hell now.
Must be those damned atheists
Kurds are Muslim, good lad.
The PKK are atheists.
No wonder summer holidays to Turkey are cheap.
If your article tells us 18 dead and 45 injured, why are you padding the article with a tweet saying 5 are dead and 10 are injured?
Retweeting has bollixed this site royally.
Coincedence!
–”The attack happened at a time when a high-level security meeting was being held at the Presidential Palace under the chairmanship of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.—”
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Would be nice to see the minutes of this meeting.
NATO needs to have a high-level meeting on Turkey’s Erdogan.
Turkey’s tourism is bound to suffer. Pity any Irish who bought an apartment over there – worthless at the moment.
Turkey looking for legitimate excuse to created safe haven for there proxies in Syria and keep the YPG and Other Kurdish factions from creating facts on the ground . The Syria Arab army have Aleppo nearly surrounded and if and when it falls it’s game over for the Gulf states and Turkey as the Daesh militias will have to fall back into Raqqa where the can be destroyed .
28, watch the news.
There’s a big chance this is simply Erdogan giving himself good own pretext to go into Syria, this is nothing new
Why give turkey a pretext to cross boarder, stupid cowards
have your say