Turkey: Suicide bombers refuse to surrender, blow themselves up

Authorities say pair were preparing for PKK attack on Turkish capital

A man and a woman have blown themselves up after refusing to surrender to police in Turkey. Police said the suicide bombers were preparing for a terror attack in the capital, possibly linked to a Kurdish separatist group. Erkan Topaca, the governor of Ankara, said investigators acting on a tip-off traced the suspects to a horse farm outside the capital in rural Haymana on Saturday.

“Police called on them to surrender,” he added.

“They did not respond in a positive way. They blew themselves up before we could intervene.”

Mr Topaca said it was “highly likely” that the male bomber was linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has carried out a series of terror attacks across Turkey while fighting a separatist insurgency in the south-east.

Officials said the pair were planning a suicide car bomb attack against an unknown target, adding that a Turkish flag hung on their car was an attempt to disguise their intentions.

“The way the incident was carried out and planned points at the PKK,” Mr Topaca said.

No one was injured in the explosion shortly after 6am local time (4am BST), with footage showing forensic teams inspecting the site, where a car was left dented and with its windows shattered from the force of the blast. Police seized two pieces of plastic explosives and 200kg of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient in bomb-making, the governor’s office said in a statement.

The male bomber has been identified as Harun Arslan, and Turkish media named the woman as Mahide Ata?, while their target is still under investigation.

The operation came two days after 10 people were wounded by a bomb mounted on a motorcycle that exploded near a police station in Istanbul. Six people have been detained in connection with the attack, which has been claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK).

The PKK frequently targets security forces and politicians, while TAK has claimed responsibility for several attacks including a car bombing that killed 37 people in Ankara in March.

- The Independent