Turkey Blast Update: Deadly Explosion Kills At Least 34 In Ankara

UPDATE: 12:29 a.m. EDT — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sunday evening that his country will bring “terror to its heel,” following a car bomb attack in Ankara's Kizilay district, the country’s official Anadolu Agency reported. The attack killed at least 34 people and left 125 people injured.

“Our state will never give up its right to self-defense against all kinds of terror threats,” Erdoğan said, according to Anadolu agency, adding: “Terror organizations and their pawns are targeting our innocent citizens in the most immoral and heartless way as they lose the fight against our security forces.”

The attack, which Turkish officials suspect was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), follows another suicide car bombing in the city on Feb. 17 that killed 29 people.

“Terror attacks - which intend to target the integrity of Turkey, unity and solidarity of our people - do not diminish our will to fight against terror, but further boost it,” Erdoğan said.

UPDATE: 6:48 p.m. EDT -- The death toll from Sunday’s car bombing in Ankara has risen to 34, and there are 125 people wounded, Reuters reports.

UPDATE: 4:21 p.m. EDT -- The death toll from Sunday’s car bombing in Ankara has risen to 32, Reuters reports.

UPDATE: 3:21 p.m. EDT -- According to initial findings, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or a related group is behind the attack that killed at least 27 people.

"According to initial findings, it seems that this attack has been carried out either by the PKK or an affiliated organization," a security official told Reuters.

Original story:

A large explosion rocked Turkey’s capital city on Sunday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 75 others, according to the governor’s office in Ankara.

Officials suspect that the explosion, which occurred in Guven park in the Kizilay neighborhood of Ankara, is the result of a car bomb. Several cars and one bus were were engulfed by the explosion, according to reports on social media. Reuters reported the blast could be heard at least 1.5 miles away from the site.

“There is a vehicle that is mostly destroyed. It is impossible to give any numbers of those who were wounded, but there are many and burning cars,” said a reporter on the scene with Haberturk, according to the Guardian.

The attack comes just one month after another suicide car bombing in the city on Feb. 17 that killed 29 people. A militant Kurdish group claimed responsibility for that attack. There have been no similar claims yet about Sunday’s bombing.

Two days ago, the U.S. Embassy in Turkey issued a security warning about a potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing in one Ankara neighborhood. It cautioned American citizens to avoid those areas. The area of Sunday’s blast is close to a courthouse and the Justice and Interior ministries.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) said on its website that February’s attack was in retaliation for the policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, though Turkish officials blamed a Syrian national who belongs to another Kurdish group, the BBC reports.

Islamic State militants have launched at least four bomb attacks in Turkey since last June.