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Western media couldn’t help but notice this. But then it is Turkey as “victim”.
Car bombing rocks Turkish capital Ankara, 34 dead, 125 injured
A blast caused by a suicide car bombing hit the center of Ankara on Sunday evening. The explosion resulted in over a hundred casualties.
RT,
13
March, 2016
At
least 34 people were killed and 125 injured in the explosion,
according to the Turkish health ministry, as cited by Sputnik news
agency.
The
blast occurred near Guven Park in the city center.
The
suicide car bomb went off at 6:43 pm local time (16:43 GMT), Turkish
broadcaster TRT said.
Haidar Sumeri
Reports that the explosion in #Turkey's #Ankara was a car bomb. Blast site near Guven Park and a major transit hub.
The
site of the blast is close to a courthouse and buildings housing the
country’s justice and interior ministries.
What
appears to be CCTV cam footage was posted on YouTube that allegedly
shows the moment of the explosion. A couple of buses can be seen in
the video, before a passing by car slows down near them and a huge
blast is seen.
Turkish
authorities have announced that they will release the name of the
group responsible for the deadly blast and the results of the probe
into the bombing on Monday. “I believe the investigation will be
concluded tomorrow and the findings will be announced,” Efkan Ala
said in comments broadcast live on local TV, as quoted by Reuters.
The
blast was caused by "explosive-laden vehicle," according to
Reuters citing Ankara governor's office.
The
blast appears to have been triggered by a car exploding near a bus
stop, TRT said. Guven Park adjoins a major transportation hub.
EMRE.B MORNİNGSTAR
Patlama güvenpark tarafında olmus
“It’s
a car bomb, [it happened] in the heart of Ankara... and today is
Sunday, many people may be outside,” Turkish journalist Onur Burcak
Belli told RT by phone, adding that the scene of the blast is “very
close to a shopping mall” and that “many cars are on fire and
apparently a public bus is also on fire.”
“I
was nearby when I heard the explosion, and there were casualties all
around... the numbers of dead are increasing,” an eyewitness told
RT by phone, adding that “the explosion was actually bigger than
the last one in Ankara.”
Mete Sohtaoğlu
Explosion in 
No
one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
A
security official said that initial findings suggest the attack was
carried out by Kurdish PKK fighters or a group affiliated with them,
Reuters reported.
The
pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has issued a statement
condemning the attack, saying it shares “the huge pain felt along
with our citizens,” AP reported. The party has been previously
accused of not speaking out against PKK violence.
Images
allegedly showing the aftermath of the explosion emerged on social
media. A huge fire could be seen in some of them.
A
large cloud of smoke rising into the dark could also be seen from the
distance.
Numerous
loud sirens could be heard in a Periscope transmission from the
scene, in which people can be seen running by, with some screaming.
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to bring “terrorism to its
knees” following the bombing, avowing that the country would
exercise its right to self-defense to avoid such attacks in the
future.
“Our
people should not worry, the struggle against terrorism will for
certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees,”
Erdogan said.
The
US and the EU, as well as NATO, have condemned the attack and
conveyed their condolences to the families of the victims, while
confirming their solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terror.
Russian
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has sent his sympathies “to the
people of Turkey,” TASS agency reported.
“On
behalf of the Russian Federation and on my behalf, I extend my
condolences… to the close ones of those who died, and wish the
speedy recovery to those injured,” Medvedev wrote.
In
February, 28 people were killed and 61 injured in a blast in Ankara,
when a car bomb, reportedly targeting military personnel, went off
close to the parliament building. Forces linked to the Syrian Kurdish
YPG militia were accused of committing that terrorist attack by
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
A
splinter group of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the
Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), later claimed responsibility, saying
the bombing had been in retaliation for Turkey’s military operation
in the country’s southeast and vowing to continue its attacks.
Turkey blocks Facebook, Twitter following deadly Ankara blast – reports
Turkish
authorities banned Twitter and Facebook after images spread on social
media depicting the suicide car bombing that killed and injured
dozens in the Turkish capital of Ankara, local broadcasters reported.
Turkey’s
telecommunications authority, TIB, blocked access to social media
after a court-ordered ban was imposed, Turkish NTV and CNN Turk
reported.
Access
to Facebook, Twitter, and a number of other sites has been blocked
because images showing victims of the tragedy were being shared on
those platforms, according to the court.
Difficulty
in accessing the sites has been reported by users.
Broadcast
media has also allegedly been banned from covering certain aspects of
the attack. A journalist from Today’s Zaman, a sister publication
of the newspaper Zaman that was recently taken over by the
government, said “a ban on networks for coverage of explosion in
Ankara” had been issued.
The
blast rocked the crowded center of the Turkish capital on Sunday
evening, killing at least 34 people and injuring 125. No one has yet
claimed responsibility for the attack.
RT crew comes under fire in suspected ‘targeted attack’ while filming in Daraa, Syria
A
general view of a damaged street in Daraa © Wsam Almokdad / Reuters
Mortars
landed near to where an RT crew was filming in the city of Daraa in
southwest Syria, RT’s Lizzie Phelan reported. Journalists might
have been targeted by the opposition side, an accompanying military
official said.
"Two
mortars [were] fired from opposition turf near where we were
filming,"
Phelan said, reporting from the area close to the border with Jordan.
A
mortar shell hit a building near to where RT journalists were
working.
No
injuries have been reported following the incident.
"We
were in the streets of Daraa city talking to local people five years
since the war began, and our work there was cut short when a mortar
was fired from opposition territory, landing on a building very close
to us,"
Phelan told RT by phone shortly after the incident.
The
crew had to cut short the interview, get into the car and leave the
area.
"Just
a few seconds after we got into the car, another mortar landed in the
same area,"
she said.
"The
general in charge of the area believes that the attack was a targeted
attack,"
the RT reporter said, adding that although there is no confirmation
to prove or deny this allegation, the military official said that the
area where RT was filming "is
very rarely targeted by mortars."
"He
believes that local people who support the opposition called fighters
on the other side of the frontline to say that there was a media crew
in the area,"
Phelan said, adding that according to the general "the
opposition doesn't like media filming in government-held
territories."
"We
were somewhat successful,"
she added, saying that the crew managed to escape the scene and
quickly get to Damascus.
The
city of Daraa, which is now rarely attacked, is known as the cradle
of the uprising in Syria. For five years it has been "pretty
much a divided city"
between the government forces and various opposition groups,
including the Free Syrian Army, Phelan reported. Extremists from the
Al-Nusra front have also been involved in fighting in the area, she
said, adding that the terrorists still control some of the border
crossings near Jordan.
"There's
an array of different groups in non-government held territory [in
Daraa], it's still a hotspot in the Syrian war,"
she said.
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