Saudi Arabia condemns Ankara attack

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has denounced Wednesday’s terrorist blast in Ankara that killed 28 people and risked a new escalation of the Syrian conflict.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent cables of condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, voicing grief over the bombing.
They offered sincere condolences to families of the victims, praying to Allah Almighty to rest the souls of those who passed away in eternal peace and grant the injured quick recovery.
The king said in his cable: “We reconfirm Saudi Arabia’s firm position on rejecting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stressing the importance of international efforts to confront and eliminate it.”
Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants based inside the country and in Syria for the car bombing targeting a military convoy in Ankara.
The massive bomb blast struck five buses carrying military service personnel when it stopped at a traffic light in the center of the capital on Wednesday evening.
The attack struck the heart of power in the Turkish capital in an area where the headquarters of the army, the parliament and prime minister’s offices are in close proximity.
Also Thursday, at least six soldiers were killed in an attack on their convoy in the Diyarbakir region of southeastern Turkey blamed on Kurdish militants, security sources said.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Erdogan both said the Ankara attack was a joint operation of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in cooperation with the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
Davutoglu said the bomber was a Syrian national named Salih Necar.
It has with certainty been revealed that this attack was carried out by members of the terrorist organization in Turkey in cooperation with a YPG member who infiltrated from Syria,” Davutoglu was quoted as saying in an AFP report.