ANKARA: At least 27 people have been killed and 75 wounded after a large explosion was heard in central Ankara, local media have reported.
The attack took place next to a bus stop in the city while there were reports by NTV broadcaster that the attack was in fact a car bomb near Güvenpark in Kizilay.
Several vehicles could be seen damaged by fire in live footage on Turkish television as ambulances could be heard in the background. Gunfire was reported after the attack.
The Ankara governor’s office confirmed the death toll on Sunday night, just hours after the explosion.
CNN Turk had earlier said 25 had been killed. Later it said that two more people had died en route to hospital. A senior security official told Reuters the blast was believed to have been caused by a suicide car bombing.
Ambulances rushed to the scene of the explosion on Kizilay square, a key hub in the city, and television pictures showed burntout vehicles including a bus.
A local news channel said the explosion occurred as a car slammed into a bus, suggesting that the blast may have been caused by a car bomb. Several vehicles had caught fire, it said.
Police sealed off the area and pushed onlookers and journalists back, warning there could be a second bomb.
The blast comes two days after the US embassy warned its citizens that there was information about a “potential terrorist plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing located in the Bahcelievler area of Ankara”. The embassy warned its citizens to avoid the area. Ankara has been hit by three bombings in the last five months including the worst terror attack in October during which 103 people were killed.
In the attack late last year, two ISILlinked suicide bombers launched their attack during a peace rally in the capital. Organisers and activists were calling for an end to fighting between the Turkish state and Kurdish militants after the collapse of the ceasefire earlier in the year.
The city suffered another attack last month when 29 people were killed after a car bomb blamed on Kurdish militants. The majority of those killed during the recent attack were military personnel after their convoy was hit by the blast.
