Turkey blames Kurdish rebels, Syria for Ankara attack

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey blamed Kurdish militants at home and in neighboring Syria on Thursday for a deadly bombing in Ankara and it stepped up pressure on the U.S. to sever ties with the Syrian Kurdish militia that has been a key force against the Islamic State group in the complex Syrian conflict.

Ankara’s second bombing in four months came as Turkey grappled with an array of serious issues, including renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels, threats from Islamic State militants and the Syria refugee crisis.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a Syrian national with links to Syrian Kurdish militias carried out the attack in concert with Turkey’s own outlawed Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency.

[...] in the complicated tangle of friends and foes in the Middle East, Washington relies heavily on the Syrian Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, in fighting extremists from the Islamic State group.