Car Bomb Strikes Military Convoy in Ankara, Killing 28, Officials Say
By CEYLAN YEGINSU

ISTANBUL — Turkey reeled on Wednesday from a deadly bombing of a military convoy in the capital, plunging its leaders deeper into crisis mode and underscoring the country’s vulnerability to the Syrian war and revitalized Kurdish insurgency.

The bombing in the capital, Ankara, made President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even more combative; he vowed to strike at enemies in Syria or anywhere else.

The blast hit a convoy of buses filled with soldiers as it was stopped for a traffic light near the Parliament building. Officials said the explosion killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 60. No group took responsibility immediately, but some officials said Kurdish militants might have been responsible.

“Our determination to respond in kind to attacks taking place inside and outside our borders is getting stronger with such acts,” Mr. Erdogan said in a statement. “It must be known that Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defense at any time, any place or any occasion.”

Hours later and more than 2,000 miles away in what may have been a sympathy attack, an explosion severely damaged a Turkish cultural association building in a Stockholm suburb. Swedish police officials said there were no suspects.

Mr. Erdogan is growing increasingly exasperated over changes wrought by the war in Syria, where Kurdish rebels, whom he considers terrorists, have gained territory along the Turkish border in the chaos created by advancing Syrian forces backed by Russian airstrikes.

The Turkish armed forces have been shelling Kurdish positions in Syria since last weekend, and Mr. Erdogan’s aides have said a ground invasion of Syria is the only way to stop the war, but the message is not resonating with Turkey’s NATO allies — especially the United States, which has angered Mr. Erdogan.

He and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu canceled foreign trips after the bombing. Televised images showed smoke and a large fire near the site. As many as 30 ambulances were dispatched, the Health Ministry said.

Four months ago, the capital was rocked by the deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s modern history, when two suicide bombers believed to be linked to the Islamic State struck a peace rally, killing more than 100 people.

In recent months, Turkey has stepped up cooperation with the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria, and has been attacked. Last month, a suicide bomber killed at least 10 tourists in Istanbul.

The Kurdish insurgency is a separate conflict, but it has become increasingly intertwined with the Syrian war.

The Turkish military has been waging a counterinsurgency against Kurdish militants in the southeast, after the breakdown of a fragile peace process in July. Since December, many towns have been under round-the-clock curfews as Turkish forces have clashed with militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., who have been fighting for autonomy and more rights for three decades.

“The chosen target for this attack, which is our military, suggests the P.K.K is behind this attack,” a Turkish government official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

Analysts also said the assault echoed past P.K.K. attacks on off-duty officers.

“This attack demonstrates the growing linkage between Turkey’s own Kurdish problem and the Syrian war, and vice versa,” said Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. As Turkey shells Kurdish fighters in Syria, he said, they may be responding in part by effectively opening a second front against Ankara.

土耳其首都遭恐攻 至少28死

土耳其首都安卡拉市區17日傍晚尖峰時段發生汽車炸彈案，滿載軍方人員的交通巴士車隊遭攻擊，至少已造成28人死亡。因案發地點臨近國會與武裝部隊總部，當局視為恐怖攻擊，不排除是激進伊斯蘭分子或庫德族團體所為，目前尚未有組織承認犯案。

瑞典首都斯德哥爾摩郊外的土耳其文化中心17日晚間也發生爆炸案受損，但無人傷亡。

數輛土耳其軍方巴士17日下午約4時半在安卡拉市中心一處交叉路口等紅燈時，一旁汽車炸彈引爆，至少兩輛巴士著火，冒出濃煙，引發恐慌。目前至少28死、61傷，死者包括軍人及平民。

目擊爆炸的男子葛漢說，當時他距離現場約500公尺，「我看到一個巨大火球」，整個安卡拉市區幾乎都聽得到爆炸聲。他還說：「人們一聽到爆炸，便驚恐地往各個方向逃散。」

土耳其副總理庫特莫斯指出，這是場衝著政府而來、「精心謀畫」的攻擊，當局會全力緝凶，已指派七名檢察官偵辦。

刻正訪問比利時布魯塞爾的土耳其總理達夫托葛魯已取消行程，緊急返國。土國總統厄多岡也取消即將出訪亞塞拜然的行程，厲言採取報復，譴責炸彈攻擊「超越道德與人性界線」。美國華府、北約及聯合國皆譴責攻擊。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/world/europe/turkey-ankara-explosion.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/world/20160218/c18turkey/zh-hant/

Video：Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus of Turkey confirmed that several people were killed, both civilians and soldiers, when a car bomb exploded in the capital, Ankara.
http://nyti.ms/20FlkaB

Video：An explosion near government buildings in Ankara, Turkey, killed dozens of people.
http://nyti.ms/1oqFjOK

2016-02-18．聯合晚報．A6．國際焦點．編譯莊蕙嘉