The number of injured in a bomb blast at a shopping mall in Turkey's capital Ankara on yesterday has risen to 100, as police today searched for clues as to who was behind the attack.
A Turkish woman throws debris out of a broken window as people clean debris and prepare to restart their normal life after the explosion in Ankara
A powerful bomb at the entrance of the mall in the historic Ulus district killed six people during rush hour. Six Pakistanis were among the injured, authorities said.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said there was no Pakistani fatality as earlier reported by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
The explosion was believed to be the worst in at least a decade to strike the capital, which is heavily fortified.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the A-4 plastic explosives believed used in the blast pointed to the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a security source and newspapers said.
But the PKK today denied carrying out a bomb attack.
"We have no connection with the attack," the separatist militant group said in a statement posted on the Firat news agency Web site. Ankara's governor said earlier the suicide attack bore the hallmarks of Kurdish separatists.
The suicide bomber was later identified as Guven Akkus from the province of Sivas but he Ankara Governor Kemal Onal did not indicate whether he was a member of the PKK.
Turkish media said eight people had been detained in connection with the blast.
Police were not immediately available for comment.
Leading newspapers Hurriyetand Radikalsaid the blast happened shortly before senior military commanders, including armed forces chief of General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit were due to pass the area to go to a defence industry reception.