Suicide Bombing in Front of Turkey's Interior Ministry Injures Two Police Officers

A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in central Ankara, the capital of Turkey, on Sunday, October 1, injuring two police officers. According to the Associated Press, this suicide attack occurred hours before a speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish Parliament was set to resume its activities after a three-month summer break. Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey's Interior Minister, announced that another attacker was killed in a shootout with police. The minister stated that the attack took place near the entrance of the Interior Ministry and noted that the attackers arrived at the scene in a vehicle. He did not specify who or which group was responsible for the suicide attack. However, hours after the attack, Agence France-Presse reported that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and its Western allies, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Sunday. In response to this attack, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned it in a statement. Meanwhile, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his speech to the Turkish Parliament, referred to the attack as terrorist and emphasized his government's goal of establishing what he called a '30-kilometer safe zone' along its border with Syria, stating that the aim was to 'secure Turkey's southern borders to prevent attacks.' Additionally, the state news agency Anadolu reported that the two attackers had forcefully taken a vehicle from a veterinarian in the central province of Kayseri. The pro-government newspaper Sabah reported that the attackers shot the man in the head, dumped his body in a ditch by the road, and then traveled approximately 300 kilometers to Ankara. Last year, a bomb explosion in a busy area of Istanbul left six dead, including two children, and injured over 80 others. Turkey identified the armed Kurdish organizations, the PKK and the Syrian Democratic Forces, as responsible for that attack. The Antalya Film Festival in Turkey was canceled due to controversies surrounding a documentary about the 2016 coup. Aliyev's claim during a meeting with Erdoğan: part of Armenia should have been part of Azerbaijan. Baghdad: Iranian Kurdish groups have been moved deep into the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The fall of the Turkish lira has accelerated despite interest rate hikes.