2 Attackers Dead After Explosion Near Turkey’s Interior Ministry

Bombing came on the day that parliament was supposed to reconvene

Two attackers died after a bombing near Turkey’s interior ministry in the capital Ankara on Sunday morning, the Turkish government said, on the day that parliament reconvened.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, that two terrorists drove up to the entrance of the ministry in a commercial vehicle and one attacker blew himself up while the other was “neutralized.”

Yerlikaya stated that the two injured officers were being treated and their injuries were not life-threatening—and that the fight against terrorism, gangs, and organized crime would continue.

It would not be wrong to read this attack together with the operations against organized crime groups, human trafficking, and drug gangs that have been carried out in Turkey for the past four months

Mustafa Böğürcü, a member of the opposition Democratic Party and a former police administrator, stated that the fact that the target was the ministry that deals with terrorist organizations and crime groups was key.

“It would not be wrong to read this attack together with the operations against organized crime groups, human trafficking, and drug gangs that have been carried out in Turkey for the past four months,” Böğürcü wrote in a message to The Media Line.

“There is a strong possibility that the pressure and operations carried out in the field may have hindered the interests and money flow of the criminal networks mentioned, and as a result, they may have received support from terrorist organizations which created the need to take this type of sensational action,” he added.

He believed investigators should look at how the attackers could pass road checkpoints to get to the capital and the origins of the weapons.

A senior Turkish official stated that the terrorists stole the vehicle in the town of Kayseri, southeast of Ankara, and killed the driver, as the Reuters news agency reported.

A video shared on X purportedly of the attack shows a light-colored vehicle slowly driving down a road and then stopping with two people coming out.

One runs toward what seems to be an entrance and there is an explosion about six seconds after the person leaves the vehicle.

This morning’s attack, in which two villains were neutralized thanks to the timely response of our security units, is the last flutters of terrorism

Near the Interior Ministry, Erdoğan took part in a ceremony for the opening of parliament hours after the attack.

In his address to MPs, the Turkish president stated that the attackers failed to achieve their goals.

“This morning’s attack, in which two villains were neutralized thanks to the timely response of our security units, is the last flutters of terrorism,” he stated, according to his communications office.

Ömer Özkizilcik, a foreign policy and security analyst based in Ankara, believed ISIS and the Turkish militia the PKK would be the most likely groups that officials would look at and that both have motivations to attack the country.

The two groups have been accused of carrying out several deadly attacks in Turkey over the years.

Özkizilcik pointed out that if the vehicle drove a few minutes further it could have hit the parliament on the first day that MPs returned.

“For ISIS, causing as many civilian casualties as possible and targeting the heart of Turkish democracy would be the more ‘logical’ option,” Özkizilcik wrote in a message to The Media Line.

He stated this partly made him believe the PKK was more likely to be behind the attack, as well as the fact that Turkey had taken out PKK members in Syria and Iraq.

In August, Turkish strikes had killed several fighters with the PKK, according to authorities in Iraq where the group operates.

Tens of thousands have died during a decadeslong insurgency carried out by the PKK.

Attacks in Turkey have significantly gone down since the country experienced several attacks in 2015 and 2016.

There was a bombing in November last year on Istanbul’s main shopping street, killing six people, which Turkey blamed on the PKK and the Syrian-based YPG. Ankara insists the two are connected.

Turkey’s allies denounced the attack, with the US stating it stood with its NATO ally against terrorism and that it strongly condemned the attack.

Joseph Borrell, who heads the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy, also expressed solidarity.

He wrote, “The EU condemns the terrorist attack on the Turkish Ministry of the Interior in Ankara, wounding several policemen.”