Turkey Ankara Bombing Prime Minister Address

Twin explosions in the Turkish capital have killed at least 30 people, with 126 others injured, the country’s Interior Ministry has confirmed. Reports from Turkey’s health minister estimate that at least 86 people were killed, with almost 200 more being injured.

The rally was being held outside Ankara’s main train station, with about 14,000 people believed to have been in the area at the time of the explosions, which happened just minutes apart.

Video images from Saturday’s blast showed bodies draped with peace signs and flags of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, a pro-Kurdish group whose success in elections on June 7 stripped the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, of the majority government it had since 2002.

Those involved in the peace march tended to the wounded lying on the ground, as hundreds of stunned people wandered around the streets.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, released a statement on the presidency’s website condemning the attacks, saying, “No matter what its origin, aim or name, we are against any form of terrorist act or terrorist organization”. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara condemned the attack. “All of us must stand united against terror”, the embassy said on its Twitter feed.

The PKK called on its fighters and supporters to stop guerrilla activities in Turkey ahead of elections on 1 November.

“Deep condolences to the families of the victims in Turkey”, said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Twitter. However, much of the recent violence in the country stems from this older conflict, which began in the “80s and has left almost 40,000 dead, between the state and the militants of the Kurdistan Workers” Party (PKK).

“The toll is severe”, said Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party, whose members attended the rally.

Minister Mehmet Muezinoglu said 28 people among the 186 wounded are in intensive care.

“We are faced with a very big massacre, a vicious, barbarous attack”, he said.

Turkey is holding another election next month, and the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Istanbul says it was feared that another similar attack was imminent. In July, a suicide bombing blamed on the Islamic State group killed 33 peace activists, including many Kurds, in the town of Suruc near Turkey’s border with Syria.