The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), in a statement posted on its website, said it carried out the attack inresponse to the policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This act was conducted to avenge the massacre of defenseless, injured civilians, the group said, threatening further attacks.
The bomber, it said, was a 26-year-old Turkish national born in the eastern city of Van.It identified himAbdulbaki Sonmez whocarried out thebombing on a Turkish military convoy in Ankara.
The TAK wasonce linked to theKurdistan Workers Partybut it saysits relationship with PKK militants has been severed.
Erdogan has said he had "no doubt" that Syrian Kurdish groups fighting Takfiriscarried out the bombing.Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saida Syrian national with links to the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) was behind the attack.
Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu (3rd L) prays among others behind a flag-draped coffin of a car bombing victim in Ankara, Feb. 19, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)Davutoglu has alsoaccusedthe Syrian government of being directly responsible for thebombing in Ankara.The leader of the YPG denied thatthegroup's armed YPG wingwas behind the attack, sayingAnkara was making the accusation in order to escalate its attacks in Syria.
Turkey is supporting militants fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Ankara has been shellingYPGpositions in northern Syria over the last few days in an attempt to stop Kurdish forces from reaching the border with Turkey.
On Thursday, Davutoglu saidTurkishforces wouldcontinue to shell Kurdish positions on Syrian soil as its accusations against Syrian Kurds and the government in Damascus raised fears of an escalation.
Turkish army tanks, positioned near the border with Syria, shoot into reported Kurdish targets in Syrian territory, February 15, 2016. (Photo by AFP)Turkey regards the YPG and PYDas an ally of the PKK, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.The Turkish army has been carrying out a military campaign in several regions with a majority Kurdish population in the past few months. A PKK leader signaled thatthe Ankara bombingwas aresponse to "massacres" in Turkey'sKurdish-populated regions.
At least 28 people lost their lives when a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses in Ankara on Wednesday. Twenty-seven of those killedwere members of the military.
Hours after the bombing, Turkish warplanescarried out airstrikes against PKK positions in the Haftanin area of Dohuk Province in Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdistan region,killing60-70 militants, including senior PKK figures, Davutoglu said.
By Press TV
