PKK reportedly claims responsibility for Ankara attack

ANF News, a news agency close to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, reported Sunday night that the group had claimed responsibility for an attack in the Turkish capital Ankara earlier Sunday.

Leftist extremists and the Islamic State group have also carried out deadly attacks throughout Turkiye in the past.

In a speech to Parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack “the last stand of terrorism.”

“The scoundrels who targeted the peace and security of the citizens could not achieve their goals and they never will,” he said.

The president reiterated his government’s aim to create a 30-kilometer (20 mile) safe zone along Turkiye’s border with Syria to secure its southern border from attacks.

Turkiye has launched several incursions into northern Syria since 2016 to drive away the Islamic State group and a Kurdish militia group, known by the initials YPG, and controls swaths of territory in the area.

Turkiye views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is listed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The PKK has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict.

Source: AP