In the heart of the capital Ankara, Turkey, a car bomb targeting the Turkish military took away 28 lives and left 61 injured.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said that, the blast struck a military vehicles convoy last night and the attackers’ identity is not found as of yet.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed retaliation against the perpetrators of the attack, which came on the heels of a spate of deadly strikes in Turkey blamed on jihadists and also Kurdish rebels.
When military buses convoy was stopped at traffic lights in central Ankara, the car bomb was detonated.
“This attack has very clearly targeted our esteemed nation as a whole and was carried out in a vile, dishonourable, treacherous and insidious way,” said Kurtulmus.
Plumes of smoke could be seen from all over the city rising from the scene, close to the headquarters of the Turkish military and the parliament.
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Throughout Ankara, the powerful blast was heard, alerting the people to look at it once.
"I saw a huge fireball growing," 25-year-old witness Gurkan said. He also claimed that he was standing 500 metres from the scene.
“People started to run in all directions in panic as soon as we heard a strong explosion.”
Speaking about the attack, the army said that it took place at 2200 IST and had targeted "service vehicles carrying army personnel".
Without specifying what the retaliation could entail, Erdogan warned that, “Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defence at any time, any place or any occasion”.
After the attack, even Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu dropped his trip to Brussels today, which he thought of discussing about Europe's migrant crisis. Erdogan also shelved a trip to Azerbaijan.
Post the bomb attack, ambulances and fire engines were sent to the scene and injured victims were taken on the stretchers.
Condemning the attack, Washington released a statement that reads, “The terrorist attack on Turkish military personnel and civilians" and reaffirmed US solidarity with the key NATO partner”.
By Phani Ch
