Turkey IDs Ankara Bomber as PKK Rebel Who Trained in Syria
- 8 years ago
Turkey on Tuesday identified the attacker who carried out a deadly suicide bombing in Ankara as a 24-year-old woman who allegedly became a Kurdish rebel in 2013 and had trained in Syria.
An Interior Ministry statement identified the suicide car bomber blamed for killing 37 people, including herself, on Sunday as Seher Cagla Demir.
A possible male accomplice, who was also killed, has not yet been identified.
The statement said Demir joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, then crossed into Syria and received what it called "terror training" from an allied Syrian Kurdish militia.
Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia — known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG — as a terror organization because of its affiliation with the PKK and has been pressing the United States to stop helping the group.
An Interior Ministry statement identified the suicide car bomber blamed for killing 37 people, including herself, on Sunday as Seher Cagla Demir.
A possible male accomplice, who was also killed, has not yet been identified.
The statement said Demir joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, then crossed into Syria and received what it called "terror training" from an allied Syrian Kurdish militia.
Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia — known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG — as a terror organization because of its affiliation with the PKK and has been pressing the United States to stop helping the group.