Turkey blames Kurdish militants for bombing

Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey

Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants at home and in neighboring Syria for a deadly bombing in Ankara, and it stepped up pressure on the U.S. to sever ties with the Syrian Kurdish militia that has been a key force against the Islamic State group in the complex Syrian conflict.

The blast at rush hour Wednesday killed 28 people and wounded dozens more in a car bombing that targeted buses of military personnel. Ankara’s second bombing in four months came as Turkey grappled with an array of serious issues, including renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels, threats from Islamic State militants and the Syria refugee crisis.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a Syrian national with links to Syrian Kurdish militias carried out the attack in concert with Turkey’s own outlawed Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency. He also blamed the government of President Bashar Assad for purportedly supporting the Syrian Kurdish militia.

Turkish leaders vowed to retaliate for the Ankara attack, and the military said its warplanes conducted cross-border raids within hours against PKK positions in the Haftanin region of northern Iraq, striking about 60 to 70 rebels, including senior leaders. The report could not be independently verified.

Turkey had been pressing the U.S. in recent weeks to cut off its support to the Kurdish Syrian militias that Ankara regards as terrorists because of their affiliation with the PKK. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Washington to choose between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish group as its partner.