Turkish PM Says 1 Bomber Close to Identification

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack – the worst in Turkey’s history – but earlier Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Kurdish rebels, Islamic State militants or leftist groups were most likely to blame.

One of the Turkish newspapers claimed that investigators had determined that one of the bombers was a male aged about 25 or 30.

“We’re close to a name, which points to one group”, he said, without giving further details.

The activists had planned to rally for an end to the escalating violence between the Turkish authorities and the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Burak Kara/Getty images Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party of Peoples (HDP), hugs a relative of victims.

The Turkish interior minister, Selami Altinok, said Ankara was taking extra security precautions after Saturday’s bombing. A senior government official told Reuters that “postponing the elections as a result of the attack is not on the table at all, even as an option”. More than 140 soldiers and police have been killed in PKK bombings and shootings since the return to open conflict, compared with around 1,700 militants, nearly all from the PKK, state-run Anatolia news agency said last week.

The two explosions occurred seconds apart as hundreds of opposition supporters and Kurdish activists gathered for the peace rally.

Kurtulmus reiterated that the way the attack was carried out showed “a resemblance to the Suruc bombing”, and said that “a large number of people have been detained in relation to the attack”, without giving an exact number of suspects in custody. The government blamed that attack on the Islamic State group.

Turkey declared three days of mourning following the attack, which also injured about 250 people. A pro-Kurdish political party, whose members were among those killed in the blasts, puts the death toll at 128, 120 of whom allegedly have already been identified. Since the collapse of a ceasefire in July 2015, more than 2,000 PKK fighters and 150 Turkish security personnel have been killed in renewed hostilities, Anadolu report said.

September: The Turkish army says the PKK killed 16 of its soldiers, and Ankara launches a wave of air strikes against PKK strongholds in northern Iraq in response.

The prime minister said that investigations were also underway regarding any security failures and that those responsible would be dealt with.