Turkey launches airstrikes after Ankara explosion

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said evidence provided by Turkey’s Interior Ministry pointed to the terrorist PKK and PYD organizations as the culprit for Wednesday’s Ankara bombing.

“The terror attack was carried out when the vehicles were waiting for traffic lights at a road junction”, it added.

“This attack has very clearly targeted our esteemed nation as a whole and was carried out in a vile, dishonourable, treacherous and insidious way”, said Kurtulmus.

The powerful blast was heard throughout Ankara, sending alarmed residents rushing to their balconies. While only “a small fraction of the health facilities in Syria”, those medical facilities recorded a total of 7,009 people dead and 154,647 people wounded during the conflict.

The army said the attack had targeted “service vehicles carrying army personnel”.

“It must be known that Turkey will not hesitate to use its legitimate right to defend itself always, everywhere and under any circumstances”, he said. “Nearly everything is now being delivered to us”, said the rebel source.

The attack occurred close to the headquarters of the army, the building of parliament and the prime minister’s office. Erdogan postponed a trip to Azerbaijan planned for Thursday.

NTV television said the explosion happened near a residential block for top-level military staff. Images from the scene showed fire-fighters trying to overcome a fierce blaze from wrecked service buses. A second blast later rocked the area, an AFP correspondent said, but officials said this was police detonating a suspicious package.

At least 28 people were killed and 45 wounded by a vehicle bomb targeting the military in the heart of the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, the city’s governor said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the attack.

The EU pledged to stand “with Turkey and its people in these hard times”.

Erdogan promised to retaliate “everywhere” possible to avenge the deaths of those killed on Wednesday and in previous attacks.

Last month, 11 German tourists were killed after a suicide bomber affiliated with the IS detonated a bomb in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district.

Turkey regards the Syrian Democratic Union Party, and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units, as terrorists due to their affiliation to Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish rebel group. Turkish security sources said artillery shells began pounding Azaz again Thursday evening.

“Let’s not forget that whenever something like that happens inside Turkey, the first place that they are going to point the finger is going to be the PKK”, Daniel Wagner, CEO of Country Risk Solutions told RT.

Turkey’s armed forces would continue their shelling of recent days of YPG positions in northern Syria, Davutoglu said, promising that those responsible would “pay the price”.