Islamic State (IS)’s claim of its first bomb attack in Turkey, just days after the extremist group’s leader called for attacks against the country, might herald a change of tactics for the so-called caliphate that could further unsettle the region.
The claim early on Saturday contradicts the Turkish government, which had blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the blast at a police station in the southeast city of Diyarbakir, which left nine dead, according to Turkish state-media.
To date, Islamic State has been blamed by authorities for attacks which have left about 200 dead inside Turkey, but it has never taken the credit for those suicide bombings or similar strikes.
Until now, the group has only claimed responsibility for assassinations of Syrian activists living in Turkey who reported on atrocities being committed inside Islamic State-held territory.
“Assuming the Islamic State’s claim is accurate, the so-called caliphate’s men carried it out just two days after Abu Bakr al Baghdadi called for attacks inside Turkey,” commented Thomas Joscelyn, an expert at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
Al-Baghdadi, the head of Islamic State, released a rare audio message this week, as his forces come under intense pressure in Iraq, where the group’s last major urban stronghold, the northern city of Mosul, is under attack.
Iraqi forces backed by the United States are quickly taking ground from Islamic State around Mosul and entered the city this week.
Meanwhile, Islamic State has lost key territory over the past two years in Syria, mostly to Kurdish forces backed by the US.
In August, Turkey sent troops into Syria to restrain the Kurds and also to battle Islamic State.
“In the past, the Islamic State has been deliberately ambiguous about high-profile terrorist attacks inside Turkey,” Joscelyn noted.
Even attacks which had all the hallmarks of an Islamic State attack went unclaimed, such as the airport bombing in Istanbul in June which killed dozens.
The attack in Diyarbakir – which Islamic State’s semi-official Amaq news agency claimed – comes after al-Baghdadi’s call to invade Turkey and for his fighters to “turn its safety into fear”.
The claim further weakened arguments that Kurdish forces were behind Friday’s bombing.
While the car bombing did target a police station, the building was housing Kurdish politicians under arrest.
According to Kurdish politician Ziya Pir from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey, at least one official affiliated with his party was killed in the attack.
The HDP in Turkey has been targeted by a number of bombings in the past, which all bore the hallmarks of Islamic State group.
The government has even blamed several such attacks on the group, including a double suicide bombing in Ankara last year which killed about 100 people and a blast at a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep in August, killing about 50.
The attacks have widely been analysed as revenge for events in Syria, where the Kurds are pushing back Islamic State.