Turkish Cultural Center Bombed in Stockholm
Alwaght: The Turkish cultural centre has been badly damaged during a bomb attack in Stockholm Sweden.
According to police, the explosion occurred around 09:30 pm local time on Wednesday inside the Turkish Cultural Association of Botkyrka in the Fittja district, southwest of Stockholm.
While all the facility’s windows seem to be blown out, there were no immediate reports of any injuries from the incident, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reports.
"No one was inside. No one was injured. It had been locked since earlier in the evening," a police spokesman said, according to Reuters.
Swedish media said a bomb disposal team was at the scene, and police were investigating the cause of the incident.
On Saturday, a Kurdish man was shot by an unknown assailant on the sidelines of a pro-Kurdish rally in Fittja and seriously wounded. The gunman reportedly fled the scene.
Sweden has a population of about 170,000 Kurds who stage occasional protests against perceived government crackdown on their community in Turkey.
Earlier in the day a deadly blast rocked the Turkish capital of Ankara, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens, when a car bomb apparently targeting military personnel detonated near government buildings, including the country’s parliament and the armed forces' headquarters.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed revenge against those responsible for the Ankara deadly blast.
“Our determination to respond in kind to attacks taking place inside and outside our borders is getting stronger with such acts," Erdogan said in a statement issued after the blast on Wednesday.
He added that his country will not “shy away from using its right to self-defense” when in danger.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari severely condemned the attack and offered condolences to the families of the victims and the Turkish nation. He noted that such crimes show the necessity for jointly battling terrorism as a global threat.
Meanwhile, Kurdish self-defense forces did not organize the attack in Ankara, Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) chief Salih Muslim Muhammad told RIA Novosti.
“This is absolutely not true. Kurds have nothing to do with what happened in Ankara. What happened there is related to Turkey's fight with ISIS, whose members live in Turkey.”
He also denied claims that the armed YPG wing was firing into Turkey.
"I can assure you that not even one bullet is fired by the YPG into Turkey," Salih Muslim said. "They don't consider Turkey as an enemy."
