The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday that injured two people, Agence France-Presse reported.
“A sacrificial action was carried out against the Turkish Interior Ministry by a team from our Immortal Brigade,” the PKK told the ANF news agency, which is close to the Kurdish movement.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
The powerful explosion outside the interior ministry, which was followed by large flames, was heard several kilometers from the site of the attack.
The targeted district is home to several other ministries and the Turkish parliament, which reopened as planned in the afternoon with an address from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“The villains who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not achieved their objectives and will never achieve them,” Erdoğan told the parliament.
The interior ministry said two attackers arrived in a commercial vehicle around 9:30 am (0630 GMT) in front of “the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of our Ministry of the Interior, and carried out a bomb attack.”
“One of the terrorists blew himself up. The other was killed by a bullet to the head before he had a chance to blow himself up,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a press statement outside the ministry.
“Two of our police officers were slightly injured” in the exchange of fire, but their lives were not in danger, he added.
The Ankara police headquarters said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was carrying out “controlled explosions” of “suspicious packages” to prevent other explosions.
The Ankara prosecutor’s office said it was opening an investigation and banned access to the area. Local media was asked to stop broadcasting images from the scene of the attack.