Turkey blames Syria’s PKK-linked YPG for Ankara blast

A Syrian who entered Turkey with refugees was responsible for a auto bomb attack in Ankara which killed 28, the Turkish prime minister said.

The PYD has repeatedly denied claims of any involvement, but Erdoğan rejected the group’s denial during a television address.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has strongly denounced Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria, declaring it “vile, cruel and barbaric”, while also chastising Ankara’s allies, particularly Washington, for shying away from condemning Russia’s acts with a clear language.

“The military says its convoy was hit by an explosion outside Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast”, Peter says.

“We will never allow the formation of a new Qandil on our southern border”, he said, referring to the mountains of northern Iraq where the outlawed PKK has bases.

The alliance is led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), and its advances have alarmed Turkey, which considers the YPG a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party that has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.

The Islamic State, a fanatical Islamist group, controls much of the eastern deserts as well as territory across the border in Iraq – where it is opposed by Kurds as well.

Hours after the attack, Turkey’s air force launched fresh strikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq, according to the Turkish military, which said it was targeting 60-70 of the group’s fighters.

Davutoglu said the Syrian man was a member of the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish rebel group. Philip Hammond, the British Defence Secretary, said he was “appalled that the Assad regime and its Russian supporters are still bombing innocent civilians” despite promising a ceasefire last week.

Mehmet Celik, a columnist with the Daily Sabah newspaper, told Al Jazeera the attacks would increase support for Turkish military intervention in Syria, adding any action would extend beyond fighting the YPG.

Another soldier was seriously wounded in the attack, which came a day after the vehicle bombing in the Turkish capital that targeted military personnel.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said the attack was probably carried out by Syrian and Russian forces as part of an offensive.

“We don’t know who did this”.

Conflicting interests in Syria have created a risky new phase in the country’s five-year war, even as world powers struggle to implement a truce agreement.

These latest Turkish air strikes are believed to have killed some senior PKK fighters.