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Powerful blast rocks Ankara road junction, 'many casualties'

Warning: The video in this article shows the moment a bomb explodes at the peace rally killing at least 86 people and injuring over 180. Contains distressing scenes

Video: Turkey bomb 'massacre' kills 30 and injures over 100 at pro-Kurdish peace rally - Telegraph


Turkey bomb massacre kills 86 and injures over 180 at pro-Kurdish peace rally


A double attack believed to be the work of suicide bombers on a march in the Turkish capital Ankara yesterday killed 86 people and injured more than 180 others in the worst terrorist outrage in the country’s modern history.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was captured in dramatic video footage taken by a cameraman filming the start of the demonstration. A group of young activists doing a traditional Turkish dance flinch and duck as an sheet of orange flame punctures the sky behind them.

They had been setting off on a protest backed by the pro-Kurdish HDP political party and leftist secular groups calling for the government to make peace with the Kurdish guerrilla group, the PKK.

One of the men who can be seen in the video, Goksel Ilgin, told The Sunday Telegraph how the massive blast erupted right behind him.

“We started dancing the ‘halay’ dance as we were cheerful and determined to promote peace,” said Mr Goksin, who can be seen at the far right of the picture wearing a blue cardigan and jeans. “Then we heard a sudden blast about 15 metres behind us.

"After the explosion I was overcome by shock. I fell on my knees, and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then 15 seconds later there was a second blast. We saw flags and pieces of bodies flying into the air.

"People were injured and running around unconsciously. It took ten to fifteen minutes for someone to slap me to get over the shock. She told me to walk fast and scream. I did and started to feel better.

"But I will never forget the smell of burned human flesh. Even after I left the scene, I couldn't help feeling it. So my friends made me smell some flowers and perfume to stop it. It took a few hours to smell the air again. I am OK now but I will never forget it."

Despite the lack of claim, the most likely culprits were widely considered to be local recruits of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). The PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG, are fighting a bitter war against Isil under the cover of US-led coalition jets, and the jihadists conducted a similar attack which killed 32 people in the town of Suruc on the Turkey-Syria border in July.

Many Kurds believe that the Islamist AKP government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has encouraged Isil as part of his own political ambitions for Syria, as well as out of hostility to the PKK/YPG.

The HDP’s charismatic leader, Selahattin Demirtas, went so far as to suggest the government was implicated in the bombing.

"We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed," he said.

"We are faced with a murderous state which has turned into a mafia and a state mentality which acts like a serial killer."

Protesters at the scene shouted "Murderer Erdogan" and "the murderer AKP will give account" even as the injured were being taken away.

The rally, under the slogan "Work, Peace and Democracy", was organised by a number of trade unions as well as the HDP, near Ankara railway station.

Posters bearing the motto were seen plastering the bodies of the bed which lay strewn across the square. Some of the bodies were covered quickly with the distinctive yellow flag of the HDP and other banners.

The health minister, Mehmet Muezzinoglu, said 62 people had died at the scene and 24 people in hospital from their injuries. He added that 28 of the 186 injured were in a serious condition.
"We heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station," said one witness, Ahmet Onen.

"A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre - I don't understand this," he added, in floods of tears.

Mr Ilgin said: “People were running around hardly conscious in the huge panic. As the initial shock subsided, we rushed to help people lying on the ground.”
The Turkish government itself said not only Isil but pro-Kurdish or leftist groups could have carried out the attack, though it did not speculate on what the motives could be.

"Like other terror attacks, the one at the Ankara train station targets our unity, togetherness, brotherhood and future," Mr Erdogan said. He cancelled a planned visit to Turkmenistan.

The attacks however show the way in which Turkey’s involvement in the war in neighbouring Syria, where it supports the overthrow of the Assad regime and has allowed opposition groups to ferry weapons across the border, has had repercussions at home.

Some of that is due to the revived conflict with the PKK, which with the government had observed a three-year ceasefire.

The attack happened as the PKK said it was about to begin another, unilateral ceasefire, stopping its campaign of attacks on soldiers and police which has revived fears of the all-out war that mired the south-east of the country in violence in the Eighties and Nineties.

A statement issued after the explosions confirmed that that ceasefire would be implemented.

It said it depended on there being no attacks on them in the interim, and would hold until elections planned for next month.

“Or guerrilla forces will avoid conducting planned actions, will be engaged in no activities apart from maintaining its current position, and make no attempts to hinder or harm the exercise of a fair and equal election,” it said.
The elections are crucial for the future of the ruling AKP, a moderate Islamist party, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If the HDP win ten per cent of the vote, it will repeat its feat in June elections which led to a stalemate by winning seats in parliament and most probably preventing the AKP winning a majority.

It will almost certainly stop AKP pushing through constitutional changes that would hand more powers to Mr Erdogan.

 
News are coming of 97 dead and nearly 200 injured... Extremely sad incident. This is very sad and words can't describe the grief. Innocent people being butchered like that is just shocking and what's really sad is that one Of the few Muslims countries that was free from such terrorism has been hit.
 
How Can this happen in Ankara?
Now people need to realize that AKP is the only party fighting against terrorism.

I hope AKP wins the Election :(.
 
The only armed and organized group are pkk and dhkpc, this is againg one of the bloody game of pkk. Opposition will blame akp, and this will go on. Three months later people are forgotten who it was.

now yes, but in the future these extremists and terrorists make problems in turkey. like taliban in pakistan and afghanestan.
 
@Oublious

Wrong

PKK, DHKP-C, TKP/ML-TIKKO and some split groups

  • Devrimci Halk Kurtuluş Partisi/Cephesi (DHKP/C)
  • MKP (Maoist Komünist Partisi)
  • TKP/ML - KONFERANS
  • Marksist Leninist Komünist Parti (MLKP)
  • PKK/KONGRA-GEL (Kürdistan Halk Kongresi-KHK)
  • Kürdistan Devrim Partisi (PŞK)
  • Kürdistan Demokrat Partisi/Bakur (PDK/Bakur)
  • Hizbullah
  • Hilafet Devleti (HD)
  • İslami Büyük Doğu Akıncılar Cephesi (İBDA/C)
  • Tevhid Selam (Kudüs Ordusu)
  • El-Kaide Terör Örgütü Türkiye Yapılanması
 
M I T

Reliable, ex ÖKK now field service there. Was not easy to get it and he allowed to publish

@Neptune

For me was important that he accused an ex staff sergeant from TSK who was kicked off 1993
and is from FETO and united with DHKP-C

I had to delete official watermark. For his and "OUR" sake

Üzme canini, Allah Rahmet eylesin her kimse vatan evladidir.
Sana Postallarin GD da yakinda yere basarsa Rabbim'den yardim etmesi icin dua edecegim.

@Neptune Ters, saldirgan ve belki zor insanim; ama TSK ve Atatürk benim felsefemdir.

Hatirla, 5 gün bir avatar koymustum; Soft Air Gun degildi.
 
Üzme canini, Allah Rahmet eylesin her kimse vatan evladidir.

I'm not sad about what happened, they were terrorist supporters not good citizens.

It's ok when they kill police and soldiers but now it's not ok?

If they were demonstrating like that in the US in support of terrorists then they would be sent to Guantanamo for treason, Turkey is too nice towards these terrorists.

Ben uzulmedim dogruyu söylemek gerekirse, hdp'ye ve teröre destek verenler öldu sonucta.

Normal vatandas ölse neyse, ne isin var terörist eyleminde otur evinde adam gibi.

Bizim polis ve askerimizi sehit ederken kimsenin sesi cikmiyordu.

Come to think of it, I think it's clear pkk and kurds in north iraq and their supporters are behind this, just look at all the media attention on CNN and around the world, now the world will feel sorry for these monkeys and want to give them a country. When our police and soldiers die EVERYDAY we don't get 1% of this media attention internationally.

So there they want attention so the world feels sorry about them and helps them build country of the apes.
 
I'm not sad about what happened, they were terrorist supporters not good citizens.

If they were demonstrating like that in the US in support of terrorists then they would be sent to Guantanamo for treason, Turkey is too nice towards these terrorists.

Ben uzulmedim dogruyu söylemek gerekirse, hdp'ye ve teröre destek verenler öldu sonucta.

Normal vatandas ölse neyse, ne isin var terörist eyleminde otur evinde adam gibi.

Yapma kardesim. farkli birimlerdem güvenlik güclerimiz yaralandi ve su an hala yogun bakimdalar
 
Yapma kardesim. farkli birimlerdem güvenlik güclerimiz yaralandi ve su an hala yogun bakimdalar

Tamam polis ve guvenlik birimleri yani orada mecburen görevli olanlar ölduyse uzuldum, arkada biraktiklarinin baslari sagolsun.

Ama isteyerek gidenler ölumu hak ettiler, hangi kitapta yaziyor apo'nun yigeninin ve diger teröristlerin oldugu bir partiye destek vermek hele her gun sehit verirken? Oraya gönullu gidip hdp ve teröru destekliyenler gebersinler.
 
M I T

Reliable, ex ÖKK now field service there. Was not easy to get it and he allowed to publish

@Neptune

For me was important that he accused an ex staff sergeant from TSK who was kicked off 1993
and is from FETO and united with DHKP-C

I had to delete official watermark. For his and "OUR" sake

Üzme canini, Allah Rahmet eylesin her kimse vatan evladidir.
Sana Postallarin GD da yakinda yere basarsa Rabbim'den yardim etmesi icin dua edecegim.

@Neptune Ters, saldirgan ve belki zor insanim; ama TSK ve Atatürk benim felsefemdir.

Hatirla, 5 gün bir avatar koymustum; Soft Air Gun degildi.

Makes a lot of sense. Gulen is trying to remove govt, that's why they do this so close to the election and why they target a leftist/PKK rally - trying to implicate govt and thereby trying to incite more violence between govt and Kurds. Luckily PKK declared unilateral ceasefire (if they kept up attacks they would lose too many votes) so, if the perpetrators are caught, this could backfire on Gulen.
 
RIP

What ever is happining in that region is not humane and very sad!
Who ever is preparator of this act is / are son worst than animals.

Just want to say "As you sow, so shall you reap"
 
Hope for stability & safety in Turkey. The government needs to re-evaluate its priorities, have zero tolerance for any fanctions in their country that causes any internal conflicts, and work towards building a better stable region.

Turkey is the gateway to the east & west. If it slides into more instability, it will be a horrible news for everyone in the region.
 
When Turkey opened its borders to Syrians, it was quite likely that some elements from ISIS would sneak in
 

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