A car bomb killed at least 32 people at a crowded transport hub in the Turkish capital of Ankara yesterday and wounded at least 75 more, the second such attack in the administrative heart of the city in less than a month.
The blast, which could be heard several kilometres away, sent burning debris showering down over an area a few hundred metres from the Justice and Interior Ministries, a top courthouse, and the former office of the prime minister.
Police helicopters hovered overhead as a large cloud of smoke rose over the city centre.
One senior security official told Reuters initial findings suggested the attack  had been carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) or an affiliated militant group, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The previous car bombing came just a few blocks away on February 17. It killed 29 people, most of them soldiers, and was claimed by a group close to the PKK. The government said Syrian Kurdish militants were also involved in that attack, near the military headquarters, parliament and other key government institutions.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held an emergency meeting with the interior minister, the head of the intelligence agency and police and security chiefs, officials said. President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with the interior minister.
A second senior official said gunfire was heard after the blast.
State broadcaster TRT said the car had exploded at a major transport hub, hitting a bus carrying some 20 people near the central Guven Park and Kizilay Square. It said the area was crowded when the explosion happened at 6:43pm (1643 GMT).
Nato member Turkey faces multiple security threats. As part of a US-led coalition, it is fighting Islamic State (IS) in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling PKK militants in its southeast, where a 2 ½-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence since the 1990s.
Turkey sees the unrest in its largely Kurdish southeast as deeply linked to events in northern Syria, where the Kurdish YPG militia has been seizing territory as it fights both Islamic State and rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.
Ankara fears those gains will stoke separatist ambitions among its own Kurds and has long argued that the YPG and PKK have close ideological and operational ties.

Qatar condemns bomb attack
Qatar has expressed its “strong condemnation and denunciation” of the explosion that hit Ankara’s central Kizilay neighbourhood yesterday. A statement issued last night by the Foreign Ministry stressed Qatar’s condemnation of the criminal act “which is contrary to all the teachings of the revealed religions and all humanitarian values and targeted innocent people”. The statement reiterated “Qatar’s support to Turkey in all measures it takes to face such criminal acts which aim to shake its security and stability”, stressing its firm position “which rejects violence and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”. The ministry extended its “sincere condolences to  the Turkish government and families of the victims killed by this heinous crime”.