Syrian Kurdish PYD denies involvement in Ankara attack

The head of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) on Thursday denied Turkish allegations that the group was involved in a bombing in Ankara that killed 28 people.

"We deny any involvement in this attack," Saleh Muslim told AFP, after Turkey's prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused his party's armed wing of carrying out the attack in coordination with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, an outlawed Kurdish group in Turkey.

Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara that the bombing was carried out by a Syrian national named Salih Necar, adding that nine people had been detained in connection with the attack.

"We have never heard of this person Salih Necar," said Muslim.

"These accusations are clearly related to Turkish attempts to intervene in Syria," he added.

The Wednesday night bombing targeted military vehicles in the Turkish capital.

It comes as Turkey shells Kurdish militants in Syria who have seized territory in recent days from rebel groups backed by Ankara in Aleppo province.

Ankara considers Muslim's PYD party and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), to be affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
Source: AFP