Car Bomb Explodes in Ankara

Local Turkish broadcaster, NTV, has reported that at least 27 people have been killed and 125 more wounded after a car bomb exploded in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

The car exploded on Sunday evening in the centrally located Kizilay neighbourhood, near a major transport hub. Witnesses said the blast set vehicles on fire and heavily damaged several buses. Police cordoned off the area shortly after the explosion.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Istanbul, said: “As of now there has been no claim of responsibility, but this is a real concern for Turkey. It happened in the capital and this is the third explosion to have happened there since October.”

Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey, told Al Jazeera that insecurity was becoming the new normal in the country.

“Insecurity and instability now is the new dynamic in Turkish politics and in society,” he said. “Both of the last two attacks happened before the summit between the EU and Turkey, so I suspect that the group that carried out these attacks was seeking maximum publicity, not just in Turkey but in the outside world, to make it clear that Turkey is insecure and unstable place.

• Pray for those caught up in the car bomb in Ankara on Sunday, for healing and recovery for the wounded, and for comfort for those grieving the loss of family and friends in the explosion.
• Pray for Turkey, as it sits in the centre of a number of conflict areas, not least Syria, ISIL and the ongoing conflict with the Kurdish people. Pray for wisdom as it seeks solutions to its role in all these conflict areas.
• Pray for the ongoing conflict with the Kurdish people, for good and peaceful resolution.
• Pray for Turkey as it also grapples with the ongoing flood of refugees seeking to go to Europe. Pray for Christians in Turkey as they seek to welcome and help the refugees, that they will be a channel of Christ’s love and hope to these people.
• Pray for peace in Turkey, and in the surrounding region.

2 Chronicles 7 vs 14: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016