The blast occured in downtown Ankara, pictured here in 2007. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images
A suspected car bomb near a secondary school in the Turkish capital has injured at least 15 people, three of them seriously, officials said on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast in the downtown Kizilay district but the deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, said: "There is information that a bomb was planted."
At least three of the injured were in serious condition and some of them reportedly lost their limbs.
"I felt the blast effect of the explosion some 500 metres (547 yards) away," said Ekrem Erkoc, a 42-year-old witness. "I saw vehicles on fire and an injured man said people lost their limbs."
The injured were initially treated in the schoolyard before medics rushed to the scene and whisked them away to hospitals, NTV television said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suspected attack.A local district mayor, Bulent Tanik, said a witness saw someone throw a burning gas canister on to the vehicles from a nearby building.
"The investigation is under way," Tanik said. "If true, that canister might have triggered the blast of a liquefied petroleum gas tank on a vehicle."
One of the vehicles was entirely burned out and four others were damaged, television images showed.
NTV television said 10 people had been taken to hospital. Tanik said three people were seriously injured and some might have lost their limbs.
The blast occurred near the school but no pupils were harmed, Tanik said.
The injured were initially treated in the school yard by passersby before medics arrived, NTV television said.
The interior minister, Besir Atalay, inspected the scene of the attack.
Kurdish, leftist and Islamist militants have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast in the downtown Kizilay district but the deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, said: "There is information that a bomb was planted."
At least three of the injured were in serious condition and some of them reportedly lost their limbs.
"I felt the blast effect of the explosion some 500 metres (547 yards) away," said Ekrem Erkoc, a 42-year-old witness. "I saw vehicles on fire and an injured man said people lost their limbs."
The injured were initially treated in the schoolyard before medics rushed to the scene and whisked them away to hospitals, NTV television said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suspected attack.A local district mayor, Bulent Tanik, said a witness saw someone throw a burning gas canister on to the vehicles from a nearby building.
"The investigation is under way," Tanik said. "If true, that canister might have triggered the blast of a liquefied petroleum gas tank on a vehicle."
One of the vehicles was entirely burned out and four others were damaged, television images showed.
NTV television said 10 people had been taken to hospital. Tanik said three people were seriously injured and some might have lost their limbs.
The blast occurred near the school but no pupils were harmed, Tanik said.
The injured were initially treated in the school yard by passersby before medics arrived, NTV television said.
The interior minister, Besir Atalay, inspected the scene of the attack.
Kurdish, leftist and Islamist militants have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
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