Turkey sacks top police brass after Ankara attacks

The attack, the worst in Turkey’s modern history, triggered widespread anger against the government.

In his first public remarks on the bombings late Tuesday, Erdogan admitted there were security shortcomings and ordered the State Supervisory Council (DDK), an inspection body attached to the presidency, to undertake a special investigation.

Turkey’s deputy prime minister says the two suicide bombers of the Ankara peace rally blew themselves up by each exploding 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of TNT.

In a live interview on Turkish broadcaster NTV, Davutoglu said Saturday’s attack was an attempt to influence the outcome of a parliamentary election on November 1 and that necessary steps will be taken if security failures were found to have contributed to the bombing.

“As the investigation deepens, and based especially on certain results we have obtained through Twitter accounts and IP addresses, we can see that both Daesh (IS) and the PKK are groups that are likely to have played an active role”, Davutoglu said.

Turkish authorities on Wednesday imposed a ban on reporting on the details of the investigation.

Over the weekend and on Monday, police arrested dozens of people with suspected links to the IS group in cities stretching from the Mediterranean resort of Antalya to the southern city of Adana.

“We will not allow weapons stockpiled in Syria to find their way into Turkey”.

He said Turkey had intelligence that militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and leftist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), which claimed an attack on the US consulate in Istanbul in August, had been trained as suicide bombers in northern Iraq and sent to Turkey. “We are questioning how they can have had advance knowledge”.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday warned the United States and Russian Federation against “unacceptable” military and political support for Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the ISIS group in Syria.