Turkey accuses Syrian Kurdish group of deadly bombing

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Turkey accuses Syrian Kurdish group of deadly bombing

A day after a deadly bombing in Ankara, Turkey is blaming Kurdish groups. Kurdish leaders deny any connection to the attack. 28 people were killed.

CCTV’s Michal Bardavid reports from Ankara.
Follow Michal Bardavid on Twitter @michalbardavid

Turkey has been shaken by the terrorist bombing that took place on Wednesday evening at the capital Ankara. The number of people killed has risen to 28. Sixty-one people were wounded. Most of those killed were military personnel, clearly the target of this attack.

This is the second large-scale terrorist attack in Turkey’s capital only months apart. 

The attack on Wednesday night took place very close to the parliament and the Turkish military headquarters.

The Turkish government announced Syrian Kurdish militia was responsible for the attack. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared a Syrian national, 24-year-old Salih Neccar, to be the bomber.

Davutoglu said Neccar is from the northern Syrian town of Aduma and a member of the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit.

YPG is the Syrian Kurdish group Turkey has been shelling across the border in Syria over the last few days.

The YPG is the military branch of the PYD, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party. Both are considered terrorist organizations by Turkey as extensions of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, the PKK that Turkey has been in conflict with for decades.

The shelling is aimed at preventing the Syrian Kurds from gaining ground near the Turkish border. The PYD has rejected any involvement. Yet President Erdogan insisted they are to blame.

“Even though those who head the PYD and PKK say this has no connection with them, based on the information obtained by our interior minister and our intelligence agencies, it is identified that this is done by them,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said. 

To further complicate the matter, Prime Minister Davutoglu quoted a Syrian official and pointed the finger at the Syrian government as well.

This could be a signal of even more violence to come. The recent fighting between Kurds and the Turkish military has caused tension between Turkey and its’ Western allies, especially the United States.

The U.S. considers the YPG to be an ally in their fight against Islamic State, an issue Turkey has been harshly criticizing.

Despite the tension, there are no signs Turkey intends to back down.  The government seems determined to keep fighting.

The Turkish government has announced they will inform the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council of the evidence gathered during the investigation which will prove the connection between the Ankara attack and the YPG. 

Professor P.J. Crowley on Ankara explosion

For more, CCTV’s Elaine Reyes spoke to P.J. Crowley, former State Department Spokesperson. Crowley is now a professor of Practice and Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at The George Washington University.