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Turkey: Islamic State Behind Peace Rally Bombings


FILE - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, third right, his wife Sare Davutoglu, third left, his deputies Yalcin Akdogan, second right, and Cevdet Yilmaz, right, pray at the site of an explosion in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 13, 2015.
FILE - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, third right, his wife Sare Davutoglu, third left, his deputies Yalcin Akdogan, second right, and Cevdet Yilmaz, right, pray at the site of an explosion in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 13, 2015.

Twin bombings at a peace rally that killed 102 people in Ankara earlier this month were ordered by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, according to Turkish prosecutors.

A statement from the Ankara prosecutors office says an IS terror cell based in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, planned the attack on direct orders from militant leaders.

The statement says it has also found information detailing the flow of money to the IS cell in Turkey from IS bases in Syria.

The October 10 attack targeted a peace rally staged by Turkish leftists and pro-Kurdish activists. Last week, Turkish officials identified the two men it says were responsible for the attack.

One of the men was identified as the brother of a suicide bomber who killed 33 pro-Kurdish activists in the Turkish town of Suruc, near the Syrian border, in July. The second attacker was on a police list of suspected IS suicide bombers.

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