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Turkish warplanes on Sunday struck targets affiliated with a Kurdish insurgent group in northern Iraq, the Turkish Ministry of Protection stated in an announcement, hours after the separatist group took duty for a suicide bombing that wounded two law enforcement officials in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
The airstrikes destroyed “20 targets, consisting of caves, bunkers, shelters and warehouses” belonging to the separatist Kurdistan Staff’ Social gathering, or P.Ok.Ok., the ministry stated.
“Many terrorists have been neutralized,” the ministry added.
Earlier on Sunday and moments earlier than Turkey’s Parliament was scheduled to convene close by, two assailants in a small industrial car carried out a bombing on the nationwide police headquarters in Ankara.
One of many assailants blew himself up, and the opposite was killed in clashes with the police, based on Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey’s inside minister, who posted on X, the social media platform previously referred to as Twitter. Two law enforcement officials have been wounded within the assault.
It was not instantly clear who the attackers have been, however ANF Information, a information company linked to the P.Ok.Ok., stated that the group claimed duty. Turkey has confronted common assaults prior to now from Kurdish separatists, members of the Islamic State and different teams. However in recent times, such episodes have turn into uncommon.
Turkey, the USA and the European Union think about the P.Ok.Ok. a terrorist group.
The blast resonated in Ankara, the place residents posted on social media that they’d heard gunfire. The safety forces shortly cordoned off the blast website and stored journalists away.
The assault passed off close to key authorities buildings. The police headquarters is in the identical constructing because the Inside Ministry, which oversees home safety.
The Parliament constructing is close by and was scheduled to reopen on Sunday afternoon after its summer season recess with a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was not instantly clear if the assault was related to Parliament’s resumption, which continued as scheduled.
In his handle to Parliament, Mr. Erdogan referred to as the assault one of many final “flailings of terrorism.”
“The vile individuals who focused the peace and security of residents couldn’t attain their goal and can by no means have the ability to attain it,” Mr. Erdogan stated. “We’ll proceed our wrestle with willpower till the final terrorist is eradicated.”
NTV, a Turkish broadcaster, stated the Parliament constructing was closed whereas safety forces looked for bombs. It shared a nonetheless picture from an unverified surveillance video that presupposed to seize the assault and was extensively shared on social media. The video confirmed a van stopping on the road outdoors the gate to the police compound and two males with weapons getting out. One ran towards the gate after which disappeared in a big cloud of smoke apparently brought on by an explosion.
The Inside Ministry stated the second assailant was additionally sporting a bomb, which the police detonated in a managed method after killing the attacker.
The general public prosecutor’s workplace in Ankara opened an investigation into the assault, Turkey’s justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, wrote on X.
The assault was the primary in Ankara in quite a lot of years. Final November, a bombing that the federal government accused Kurdish militants of orchestrating killed six folks and wounded dozens of others on a busy pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest metropolis.
Alissa J. Rubin reported from Baghdad, Iraq.
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