An explosion hit military vehicles at an intersection in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday evening, officials said, in what the military called a “terror attack.”
Twenty-eight people were killed and 61 others were injured in the blast, according to Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus.
The explosion hit three military vehicles and a private vehicle in central Ankara, near Turkish parliament buildings, Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported, citing Ankara Gov. Mehmet Kiliclar. The vehicles were stopped for a traffic light at the time, the military said.
Authorities believe a bomb-laden vehicle caused the explosion, Kiliclar said, according to Anadolu.
The video showed large flames reaching toward the night sky from an area on the ground. Lights from numerous emergency vehicles flashed nearby.
Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, said that if it was a bomb attack, suspects could include ISIS or the PKK, the Kurdish militant separatists that Turkey considers a terrorist group.
“There’s definitely many reasons why Turkish reaction is going to be fierce” if this was an attack, he said
