US offers Turkey help to battle terrorism after Ankara blast

Sunday’s attack is the second such incident in under a month in Ankara. The latest attack saw over 35 people die and more than 70 people were left injured. The attack tore through a crowded transport hub a few hundred meters (yards) from the Justice and Interior Ministries. 

Evidence has been obtained that one of the bombers was a female member of the PKK who joined the militant group in 2013, the security officials told Reuters. She was born in 1992 and from the eastern Turkish city of Kars, they said. 

The government has said it expects to officially identify the organization behind the attack soon. In its armed campaign in Turkey, the PKK has historically struck directly at the security forces and says it does not target civilians. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), PKK’s splinter group, claimed responsibility for the previous car bombing, just a few blocks away, on Feb. 17. Sunday’s blast, heard several kilometres away, sent burning debris showering down over an area a few hundred meters  from the Justice and Interior Ministries. 

“These attacks, which threaten our country’s integrity and our nation’s unity and solidarity, do not weaken our resolve in fighting terrorism but bolster our determination,” President Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

 The United States condemned the attack, saying in a White House National Security Council statement, “This horrific act is only the most recent of many terrorist attacks perpetrated against the Turkish people. The United States stands together with Turkey, a NATO ally and valued partner, as we confront the scourge of terrorism.”