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Kurdish Militants Claim Turkey Car Bomb Attack


FILE - Damaged vehicles are seen at the scene of an explosion in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, March 13, 2016.
FILE - Damaged vehicles are seen at the scene of an explosion in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, March 13, 2016.

A Kurdish militant group with links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility Thursday for Sunday's suicide car bombing in Turkey's capital that killed 37 people.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, said in a statement on its website that the attack in Ankara was aimed at those responsible for security operations in southeastern Turkey, and warned the group would strike again.

The group previously claimed another bombing last month in Ankara that killed 29 people. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu dismissed that as a false claim, saying TAK was trying to protect Syrian Kurdish fighters from being linked to the bombing.

Turkey says the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party, known as the People's Protection Units militia or YPG, are terrorists who are no different than the PKK that has waged a three-decade insurgency seeking greater autonomy in southeastern Turkey.

Turkish forces have been pressing an offensive against the PKK in both southeastern Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq since July.

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