Pressure mounts on Turkish government over failure to prevent Ankara attacks
Deadly blasts that killed 102 during a peace rally have been blamed on Islamic State but opposition figures believe security forces were complicit.
Two weeks after more than a hundred people were killed in an Ankara bomb attack, Turkey is still unravelling clues that suggest Islamic State (IS) was responsible, fuelling opposition anger over an apparently enormous security lapse by the government.
IS was immediately considered “suspect number one” after twin suicide bombings on October 10 in front of the city's train station killed 102 people, due to similarities with an earlier bombing blamed on the jihadist organisation.
Once again, TNT explosives packed with metal ball bearings devastated a pro-Kurdish rally: Ankara seemed a more ambitious version of the bombing in Suruc on the Syrian border in July, which left 34 people dead – and critics say the security forces should have seen it coming.
I will say it clearly, it is about protecting IS
Media reports said the national police headquarters had warned in September that IS militants were preparing a large attack in Turkey, such as hijacking a plane or detonating suicide bombs in a crowded location.
The post-attack probe focused on some 20 known jihadists and uncovered 11 suicide vests, six Kalashnikovs, 22 hand grenades and explosives, suggesting there were plans in place for another attack on Turkish soil.
According to the pro-government news agency Anatolia, the cell had originally planned to attack the headquarters of the pro-Kurdish and liberal Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), but targeted the peace rally at the last moment.
Prosecutors this week formally identified one of the suicide bombers, Yunus Emre Alagoz, a young Turk from the Islamist militant stronghold of Adiyaman and the brother of the man suspected of carrying out the Suruc attack.
Turkish media have identified the second bomber as Omer Deniz Dundar, who had twice been to Syria – and was on a list of dangerous individuals – though some reports say the accomplice may have been a foreign IS member.
