ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Turkey has removed high-level police officials from their posts following the twin suicide bombings on its capital city of Ankara that killed at least 97 people.
The Turkish Ministry of Interior removed the Director of Ankara Provincial Security Directorate Kadri Kartal and the heads of Turkey's security and intelligence departments as part of a full investigation into Saturday's bomb attacks.
Two suicide bombers using about 5 pounds of TNT explosives detonated seconds apart during a peace rally near Ankara's central railway station. No group has claimed responsibility, but the prime suspect is the Islamic State.
"We are primarily focusing on Islamic State," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a live interview with NTV, adding that the attack will not "turn Turkey into Syria."
Turkish authorities initially suggested Kurdish rebels and far-left radical groups could also have been capable of carrying out the bombings -- considered the worst in attack in modern Turkish history.
Video footage showed a group of young people holding hands and singing before the first explosion. The peace rally was to call for the end to conflict between the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and the Turkish state.
Many have blamed the Turkish government for failing to provide appropriate security measures that could have prevented the bombing, which happened ahead of a re-election on Nov. 1 after a failed vote to elect a single-party government.
