A car bomb ripped through a busy square in central Ankara Sunday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 75, officials said, the latest in a spate of attacks to hit Turkey. Ambulances rushed to the scene on Kizilay square, a key commercial and transport hub close to the city's embassy area, where the blast reduced several vehicles including a bus to burnt-out wrecks.
The attack comes just weeks after the city was hit by a suicide car bombing on February 17 targeting the military that killed 29 people, claimed by a dissident faction of the oulawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The provincial governor's office said there were 27 dead and 75 wounded in Sunday's attack.
"The blast was caused by a vehicle packed with explosives close to Kizilay square," an official statement said. Medical sources told AFP the wounded had been taken to 10 different hospitals around the city, with a dozen said to be in a very serious condition.
Turkey has been hit by a spate of deadly attacks since the middle of last year, most of them blamed on the Islamic State (IS) group, including a double suicide bombing in Ankara in October that left 103 people dead.