Militant group TAK claims responsibility for Sunday’s bombing in Ankara

Militant group Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) says it carried out the deadly attack in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday which killed 37 people.

In a statement published on its website, the Kurdish group said the suicide car bombing was a response to military operations in the predominantly Kurdish south-east which have killed hundreds of people.

The bomb exploded in the central Kizilay neighbourhood, part of a busy commercial district and transport hub in the centre of the capital.

TAK, which is part of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), also claimed responsibility for a similar car bombing in Ankara last month which killed 28 people.

The group, which is considered a terrorist group by both Turkey and the United States, said it was targeting security forces and did not intend to harm civilians.

Further to the announcement by TAK, German authorities closed their embassy in Ankara and its consulate and a school in Istanbul due to a security threat.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there were “very concrete indications that terrorist attacks were being prepared against our facilities in Turkey.”