An explosion hit military vehicles at an intersection in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday evening, officials said, in what the military called a “terror attack.”
Eighteen people were killed and 45 others were injured in the blast, Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported. Turkey’s health minister said that more than 60 people were taken to hospitals.
The explosion hit three military vehicles and a private vehicle in central Ankara, near Turkish parliament buildings, Anadolu reported, citing Ankara Gov. Mehmet Kiliclar. The vehicles were stopped for a traffic light at the time, the military said.
Authorities believe a bomb-laden vehicle caused the explosion, Kiliclar said, according to Anadolu.
Video aired on CNN Turk showed large flames reaching toward the night sky from an area on the ground. Lights from numerous emergency vehicles flashed nearby.
Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, said that if it was a bomb attack, suspects could include ISIS or the PKK, the Kurdish militant separatists that Turkey considers a terrorist group.
“There’s definitely many reasons why Turkish reaction is going to be fierce” if this was an attack, he said.