Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced three days of national mourning,
and said there was evidence that two suicide bombers had carried out
the attacks.
Media captionFootage shows the aftermath of an attack on the Turkish capital, Ankara - Sahdi Al-Kashif reportsPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack, which comes
three weeks before a re-run of June's inconclusive parliamentary
elections, was an act of terrorism and was "loathsome". He has cancelled
a planned visit to Turkmenistan.
The rally was demanding an end
to the violence between the Kurdish separatist PKK militants and the
Turkish government, and had been due to start at 12:00 local time.
The pro-Kurdish HDP party was among those attending, and it said in a statement that it believes its members were the main target of the bombings.
HDP
leader Selahettin Demirtas has blamed the state for the attack and has
cancelled all election rallies. Mr Demirtas angrily condemned the
government as "murderers" and said it had blood on its hands.
The party has previously blamed the government for colluding in attacks on Kurdish activists, which the government denies.
The
two explosions happened shortly after 10:00 as crowds gathered ahead of
the rally. Amateur video footage showed a group of young people holding
hands and singing, before the first blast. Image copyrightEPAImage caption
Banners for the planned peace rally were used to cover victims' bodies
At the scene: Selin Girit, BBC News, Ankara
"I
lost two of my friends," eyewitness Murat Tasdemir told me. "They are
now dead. Many of my friends are wounded. We had to carry the dead and
the injured to the ambulances ourselves."
They had come to the
scene to gather for what was supposed to be a peace rally. Two attacks
within seconds tore them apart. The site is now cordoned off as crime
scene investigation units scour the area. The banners that read "Peace"
are scattered across the ground.
People across Turkey are mourning
for the victims of this deadliest attack on Turkish soil. Many are
wondering: What next? If such an attack could take place in the middle
of the capital city, how will security be maintained for elections in
three weeks' time, they ask.
Bulent
Tekdemir, who was at the rally, told the BBC that the police used tear
gas "as soon as the bomb went off", and "would not let ambulances
through".
A local resident said that angry people tried to attack police cars after the blast. The HDP tweeted that police "attacked" people carrying the injured away. Image copyrightEPAImage caption
Protesters gathered in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, to condemn the attacks
Analysis: Mark Lowen, BBC News, Istanbul
After
the ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state broke down in July,
Turkey has spiralled into tit-for-tat attacks between the two sides,
and tension between Kurds and Turkish nationalists has soared.
Amidst the frenzy of a repeat election in November, it was expected that something dangerous was imminent.
The
pro-Kurdish HDP party has blamed the state. That is undoubtedly a
reference to the so-called "deep state" often talked about here: a shady
mix of nationalist forces either colluding with or supporting the
government in power.
The West's vital ally in the Middle East is
now facing a perfect storm: deep political polarisation, the bubble of
economic success on the brink of bursting, a resumption of violence with
the PKK, the threat from Islamic State, and two million Syrian refugees
and counting.
The tragedy in Ankara is a sign of the dark times Turkey is now facing. Who are the Kurds? Turkey v Islamic State v the Kurds: What's going on? An HDP rally in the city of Diyarbakir was bombed in June, ahead of general elections in which the party entered parliament for the first time.
In July, a suicide bombing by suspected Islamic State militants on a gathering of socialist youth activists in the town of Suruc on the Syrian border killed at least 30 people.
A
ceasefire between the Kurdish militant group the PKK and Turkey's
government later broke down, with the PKK accusing the security forces
of collaborating with IS.
This led to an increase in attacks from both sides over the summer.
On
Saturday the PKK called on its fighters to halt its guerrilla
activities in Turkey unless attacked first. A statement from an umbrella
group that includes the PKK said its forces would "make no attempts to
hinder or harm the exercise of a fair and equal election".
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