Day after Turkish parliament attack, police crack down on Kurdish elements, detain 20

One of the terrorists responsible for the Sunday attack near Turkish parliament in Ankara capital has been identified as Hasan Oguz, an operative of proscribed terrorist outfit Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The announcement came hours after the Turkish authorities launched a fresh crackdown across the state in which 20 people with alleged links to the Kurdish militant group were detained.

Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said that more than two dozen “operations” were carried out in Istanbul and Kırklareli, a city in Turkey’s far north-west.

Those arrested included district presidents and a provincial spokesperson for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), Yerlikaya said.

The PKK is a militant group that has been waging an armed campaign against the Turkish state since 1984.

On Sunday, it had claimed responsibility for the attack.The ANF News website, which is close to the PKK, cited the militant group as saying that a team from its Immortals Battalion unit had carried out the attack.

Turkey: Ankara targets PKK strongholds after terror attack in the capital

Terrorist identified

In a statement on Monday (Oct 2), the Interior Ministry said that Oguz, codenamed Kanivar Erdal, was identified due to the research and DNA analysis.

Efforts and investigations to identify the other terrorist continue, it added.

The attack happened around 9.30 am (local time) when a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the General Directorate of Security, injuring two police officers on duty. The other terrorist was “neutralised” by the security forces at the entrance.

The attack came on the day when the parliament was reconvening after four months of recess. The enforcement authorities found explosives, grenades, a rocket launcher and various guns at the scene.

The ministry said that the attackers hijacked a vehicle and killed its driver in Kayseri, a city 260 km (161 miles) southeast of Ankara.

Biggest attack in Ankara since 2016

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had repeatedly claimed that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK—a charge the third-biggest political party has denied.

Sunday’s attack was the first in Ankara since 2016 when Kurdish militants, Islamic State, and other groups unleashed a spate of attacks in Turkish cities.

In recent years, Turkey's armed forces conducted several large-scale military operationsin northern Iraq and northern Syria against Kurdish militants.

(With inputs from agencies)

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