37 Dead, 71 Injured in Ankara Explosion

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Four hours after the bomb attack in the central Kızılay square of Turkey’s capital city of Ankara yesterday (March 13), Minister of Interior Efkan Ala and Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu have made a statement.

Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ on the other hand who was also present in the press statement held following the “security meeting” under the presidency of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has made no comments.   

Ala: We take precautions but…

* Such attacks can’t suppress the will of the people.  

* We have attained serious findings but won’t make a statement till the results become more clear.

* The fight against terrorists will not be interrupted and Turkey will overcome this issue. The war on terrorism will not be hindered.

* Our nation has witnessed how we have managed to solve various problems. They will not be able to stop Turkey with terrorist attacks.

*We are taking effective precautions against attacks but this attack has been carried out from a moving vehicle.

Mehmet Müezzinoğlu: Death toll increased to 37

In his announcement this morning (March 14) Minister of Health Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has announced that three of the injured taken to the hospital have also lost their lives increasing the death toll to 37. 71 persons are still under treatment.

Müezzinoğlu has noted that one of the 30 persons who had lost their lives on the scene of the explosion had been the perpetrator of the attack in Güvenpark and it was possible that a second perpetrator was involved in the incident.

“We have 30 losses on the scene. Yet one of these is certainly and another one is a suspected terrorist. In the hospitals we have lost four citizens as of yesterday evening and three others as of this morning; one in Hacettepe, another one in Numune and the last one in Ankara Training and Research Hospital.

“The number of our citizens we have lost in hospitals has thus increased to seven.

“We have 71 injured ones in our hospitals. 14 of these are in emergency department, 15 others are in intensive care unit and there are also severe cases. 41 citizens are getting treatment in services”.

Kızılay surrounding closed to traffic

In the statement made by Ankara Governorship, it has been announced that the scene investigations would continue and Kızılay surrounding of Atatürk Boulevard would be closed to traffic.  

The drivers have been asked to designate their routes according to this information. (EKN/AS/DG)

Photo: Aykut Ünlüpınar / AA