TerrorismTurkey suspends sale of fertilizers containing nitrate in wake of car bombings

In the wake of two car bombings which killed seventeen people, Turkey announced it was temporarily suspending the sale of fertilizers containing nitrate.

The terrorists in the two bombings used fertilizers to make the explosives – as did Timothy McVeigh twenty years ago.

Cyprus Mail reports that Turkey has experienced a surge of violence since last summer, when the peace negotiations between the Turkish government and Kurdish rebels collapsed. At the same time, ISIS militants launched their own campaign inside Turkish territory.

The government says that Kurdish separatists were behind Tuesday’s car bomb in Istanbul. The car exploded when a bus carrying police officers passed by. On Wednesday, a suicide car bombing targeted a police station in the town of Midyat, near the border with Syria, killing three police officers and three civilians.

The Turkish Interior Ministry official said the security services have evidence that both attacks were carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK. Explosive experts said the attackers had used half a ton of explosives in the attack against the police headquarters in Midyat.

“As of now, the sale of fertilizers containing nitrate that are used for explosives has been frozen in Turkey,” the agriculture minister, Faruk Çelik, said on state television.

Security experts note that Turkey had already taken steps to control and monitor the sale of fertilizers but Çelik said these measures had proved inadequate. He said security agencies have temporarily seized 64,000 tons of fertilizers containing nitrate from retailers.