Ankara was a small provincial town when it became Turkey's capital 93 years ago. Today, it is the country's second-largest city with a population of 5 million. Over the past five months, three massive bombings have struck the city, claiming some 170 lives and leaving residents on tenterhooks. Fears are rife that this once-tranquil city is on its way to becoming another Middle Eastern capital mired in terror and bloodshed.
The string of attacks began Oct. 10, when two Islamic State (IS) militants blew themselves up in a crowd gathered for a peace rally near the main train station, killing 102 people. Then, on Feb. 17, two suicide bombers from the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical group said to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), slammed an explosives-laden car into a military bus convoy exiting the barracks a few hundred meters from parliament and the General Staff headquarters. The huge explosion, which killed 29 people, most of them army personnel, was heard across the capital, sending shockwaves among residents.
