Last Wednesday, a car bomb went off next to several military buses near Turkeys armed forces base in Ankara, killing 29 people. The following day Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu laid the blame for the incident on a Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighter, Salih Necar, hailing from the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah.
However, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) group claimed responsibility for the blast on its website on February 19.
On Tuesday, a senior Turkish security official, citing DNA evidence collected from the blast site, stated that Abdulbaki Somer, born in the eastern Turkish city of Van, was the bomber. The announcement fully corresponds with claims made by TAK.
"The DNA report has been published. We saw that it was not Necar," the Turkish officialtold Reuters on condition of anonymity as the report is yet to be made public.
"The bomber's DNA matches that of Abdulbaki's father. It looks like the bomber was Abdulbaki Somer, that's what the report is saying," he said.
According to Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency, prosecutors have confirmed the report.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"]
Smoke and flames rise over vehicles following a bomb attack that targeted a convoy of military buses in Ankara, Turkey, on February 17, 2016. (AFP)[/caption]Turkey regards the YPG and its political arm, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), as alliesof the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.
The leader of the YPG has denied being behind the attack, sayingTurkey is using the Ankara blast as a pretext toescalate its attacks in Syria.
Ankara, vowing revenge on those it claimed had carried out the attack, shelledYPGpositions in northern Syria for days after the incident whileSyrian and Kurdish forces were making daily gains againstDaesh Takfiri terrorists in the country's northernregionsnear the border with Turkey.
Same 'terrorist structure'
Earlier on Tuesday, Davutoglu saidthat TAKs claimof responsibility forthe blast "aimsto divert attention from the YPG"as all armed groups in the region are part of the same "terrorist structure."
As a result of rapid work by our security units, it has been clearly understood that this attack was planned and carried out through a cooperation between the YPG and the PKK," he stated.
By Press TV
