A bomb exploded on Tuesday in one of the Turkish capital’s busiest commercial centres, killing five people and wounding dozens, the prime minister said.
The blast outside one of the oldest shopping malls in Ankara hurled glass and other debris over a wide area. Four Turks and one Pakistani were killed in the blast, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Authorities were investigating whether it was a suicide bomber or a stationery device.
More than 60 people were injured in the blast, which ripped through the business centre of the capital, authorities said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The explosion occurred as the city hosted an international defence-industry fair, with about 400 companies from dozens of countries displaying their goods.
The neighbourhood where the blast occurred is Ulus, the oldest part of the city. It is near museums and the old Parliament house. The shopping mall that was damaged is called Anafartalar and sells mostly clothing and textiles.
”We were cleaning the windows when the pressure from the blast pushed us to the ground,” said Murat Coskun, the owner of a shop that sells cellphones near the site of the explosion. ”Everything was covered in dust. I could only hear people screaming.”
”There was a sudden explosion, everything turned to dust,” said Cenk Yedier, a witness. ”I could hear people screaming.”
The Anatolia news agency said five Pakistani nationals were among the injured.
Turkey has been dealing with a Kurdish insurgency, and the government has not ruled out military operations aimed at its bases in northern Iraq. The United States opposes Turkish military action in Iraq, fearing it would complicate US efforts to restore stability there.
In recent weeks, Turkey has also endured political turmoil pitting the Islamic-leaning government against the military-backed secular opposition, which staged huge anti-government rallies. The ruling party’s presidential candidate was forced to abandon his bid for the office, and early general elections were called for July 22.
In 2003, al-Qaeda suicide truck bombers attacked two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank in Istanbul, killing 58 people.
In September, suspected Kurdish rebels set off a bomb at a bus stop in Turkey’s largest majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, killing 10 people. A month earlier, a hard-line Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for a bus bombing in the Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris that injured 20 people, including 10 Britons. — Sapa-AP