Close to 1,000 people have been arrested in raids across Türkiye, after a suicide bomb attack in the capital Ankara on Sunday. While the majority are being detained for firearms offences, state news agencies report that 90 have been held over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. 

On Sunday morning, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near to the entrance of the Interior Ministry. A second assailant was killed in a subsequent shootout with police, which left two officers injured. 

The raids on homes and premises across sixteen provinces come after the military wing of the PKK claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place just hours before the Turkish parliament returned after summer recess. The detentions have centred on the south-eastern region of Sanliurfa. 

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Veteran TV anchor Aysenur Arslan, 73, was arrested at her home in Istanbul after comments she made on air about Sunday's attack. Her lawyer said she is facing charges of "promoting terrorism," claims she rejects. 

Speaking in parliament Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labelled the attack "the last struggle of terrorism."

In a statement the People's Defense Forces (HPG) wing of the PKK said the action was "an act of legitimate defense …  against the inhumane practice and policy of isolation that is being implemented in all the jails of Türkiye and Kurdistan."

The PKK is an internationally designated terrorist organization that has held a decades long insurgency in Turkiye, seeking increased rights for the country's Kurds. 

On Monday, Ankara launched retaliatory strikes on alleged PKK positions in Northern Iraq, claiming to have destroyed shelters, depots, and caves belonging to the group. The Turkish parliament is reconvening ahead of the Republic's centenary celebrations later this month with the ratification of Sweden's NATO accession high on the agenda.

Erdogan approved the Swedish bid at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, with Stockholm pledging closer cooperation with Ankara on the fight against terrorism and support for Türkiye's now-stalled EU membership talks. However, Ankara is demanding dozens of Kurds granted refugee status in Sweden be extradited over their alleged links to the PKK.

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