Was last week's Ankara attack just the beginning?

The car bomb attack that rocked Ankara Feb. 17 killed 28 people, most of them military personnel. About 100 others were wounded. The assailant was also killed.

Three features of this attack were seen for the first time in Ankara. First, a moving vehicle was used for a suicide attack. Its location was also significant: 500 meters from the parliament, 300 meters from the headquarters of the chief of General Staff, 150 meters from the air force command and 100 meters to the quarters where generals reside. It was the first time military and civilian personnel working at the Chief of Staff offices and at air, naval and ground forces commands have been targeted. The question everyone is now asking is whether such an attack could be repeated there or in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities.

In his statement early the next morning after the attack, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in tough language that the Democratic Union Party (PYD), linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was behind the attack and that concrete evidence of PYD responsibility will be shared with allied countries led by the United States.

Then followed media reports that the perpetrator was Saleh Najjar, a Kurd from Hasakah, Syria. Najjar had legally entered Turkey as a refugee on July 8 and properly applied to the police and immigration offices, where he completed the routine formalities. He was photographed and fingerprinted. After receiving his foreigner identity number, Najjar lived in different cities but was not involved in any criminal activity and attracted no attention from the police and intelligence services.