Oct 13, 2015- Turkey's government said on
Monday Islamic State was the prime suspect in suicide bombings that killed at
least 97 people in Ankara, but opponents vented anger at President Tayyip
Erdogan at funerals, universities and courthouses.
The father
of three men wounded in the blasts told Reuters one of his sons had described
seeing one of the bombers carrying a bag on his back and one in his hand, and
called out "stop" before the bomb detonated.
Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday's attack, the worst of its kind on
Turkish soil, was intended to influence the outcome of November polls Erdogan
hopes will restore a majority the ruling AK party lost in June. Officials say
there is no question of postponing the vote.
Two bombs
struck seconds apart, targeting a rally of pro-Kurdish activists and civic
groups near Ankara's main train station.
"If
you consider the way the attack happened and the general trend of it, we have
identified Islamic State as the primary focus," Davutoglu told Turkey's
NTV television. "It was definitely a suicide bombing...DNA tests are being
conducted. It was determined how the suicide bombers got there. We're close to
a name, which points to one group."
The
Haberturk newspaper has cited police sources as saying the type of explosive
and the choice of target pointed to a group within Islamic State known as the
'Adiyaman ones', a reverence to Adiyaman province in southeastern Turkey.
Turkey is
vulnerable to infiltration by Islamic State, which holds swathes of Syrian land
abutting Turkey where some two million refugees live. But there has been no
word from the group - usually swift to publicly claim responsibility for any
attack it conducts - over the Ankara bombing or two very similar incidents
earlier this year.
Opponents
of Erdogan, who has led the country over 13 years, blame him for the attack,
accusing the state at best of intelligence failings and at worst of complicity
by stirring up nationalist, anti-Kurdish sentiment.
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