On Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed a deadly Wednesday night car bomb attack in Ankara, the capital, on a Syrian man with ties to Syrian Kurdish militias. The suspect, identified as Sahih Neccar, carried out the bombing with the help of Turkish Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Davutoglu said, and 14 people have been detained in connection with the attack, which killed at least 28 people. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the head of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) denied any involvement.
Nonetheless, Turkey said its fighter jets flew into Iraqi Kurdistan a few hours after the Ankara bombing, attacking a group of 60 to 70 PKK militants. "It has been determined with certainty that this attack was carried out by members of the separatist terror organization together with a member of the YPG who infiltrated from Syria," Davutoglu said. The U.S. lists the PKK as a terrorist group, but it considers the YPG one of its most effective allies in battling the Islamic State. Davutoglu appeared to give the U.S. an ultimatum, saying, "Those who directly or indirectly back an organization that is the enemy of Turkey, risk losing the title of being a friend of Turkey."
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