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Bangladesh court upholds death sentence

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Mir Quasem Ali was convicted of murder and abduction during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.

Combatants who fought during the war of independence with Pakistan shout slogans. [Andrew Biraj/Reuters]

Combatants who fought during the war of independence with Pakistan shout slogans. [Andrew Biraj/Reuters]

by David Bergman, Al Jazeera

Dhaka: The top court upheld a death sentence on Tuesday imposed by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal on a leader of an Islamist political party for killing a freedom fighter during the 1971 war of independence.

In a short order read out by Chief Justice Surenda Kumar Sinha, the appellate division of the Supreme Court acquitted Mir Quasem Ali – a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami – of three other charges, including another offence that also carried the death penalty.

The court, however, upheld the convictions and sentences in six other cases.

So far, the International Crimes Tribunal – established in 2010 to prosecute those alleged to have committed war crimes during the bloody conflict with Pakistan – has convicted 24 people. Most convicted are leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, which in 1971 supported the military activities of the Pakistan military to stop Bangladesh’s secession.

Four men have now been executed.

“The appellate division has passed this judgment properly after scrutinising the facts, documents, materials and evidence in the court,” one of the prosecutors, Ran Das Gupta, told Al Jazeera. “The inspiration of the people has been fulfilled by this judgment.”

Jamaat-e-Islami called for a nationwide strike on Wednesday to protest at the verdict

Ali’s family questioned the ruling.

“The evidence presented against Mir Quasem Ali was self-contradictory and insufficient for a conviction,” said Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, Ali’s son. “Where the conviction itself has no basis, upholding of the death sentence is a travesty of justice.”

Lead defence lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said, “The judgment of the highest court of the law cannot be questioned. We will leave it to history.”

He added once the full written judgment containing the legal reasoning is published, the defence lawyers will consider whether to seek a review. Ali will be hanged within months unless a review reverses the ruling, or if he’s granted clemency.

MN Nahid Hossain, who came to the court to observe the proceedings, said “the whole country is satisfied with the judgment”.

The International Crimes Tribunal had ruled in its judgment in November 2014 that during the war Mir Quasem Ali was a leader of a pro-Pakistan militia, known as the Al Badr, and was in charge of a torture centre located at Dalim hotel in Chittagong.

The defence argued during Ali’s appeal that the prosecution’s own documents showed from the beginning of November 1971, when all the offences for which Ali was convicted are alleged to have taken place, the Jamaat leader was in the capital, Dhaka.

The tribunal and executions have divided Bangladesh and plunged the South Asian nation into its worst political crisis in years.

Israel demolishes Palestinian-owned homes in West Bank

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UN report says a total of 41 structures including a school were destroyed south of Nablus displacing 36 Palestinians.

Since the beginning of 2016, Israel has demolished, on average, 29 Palestinian-owned buildings a week, according to the UN [EPA]

Since the beginning of 2016, Israel has demolished, on average, 29 Palestinian-owned buildings a week, according to the UN [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Israeli forces have demolished dozens of structures, including a school, in the northern West Bank this week, leaving 10 families homeless, according to a new United Nations report.

In as statement issued on Friday, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance and Development Aid said the demolitions took place on Wednesday in the village of Khirbet Tana, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

In total, 41 buildings were destroyed, displacing 36 Palestinians, including 11 children, the UN said.

“These are some of the highest levels of demolition and displacement recorded in a similar timeframe since 2009,” the statement said.

Khirbet Tana is home to approximately 250 people who rely on herding and agriculture for their livelihood, according to the report.

Because the residents need grazing land for their livestock, most have “little choice” but to stay in the area.

“Due to the community’s location within an area declared as a ‘firing zone’ for training purposes, residents are denied building permits and have experienced repeated waves of demolitions, the last one taking place on February 9,” the report said.

Nickolay Mladenov, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said that last month the number of such demolitions had tripled on average since the start of the year.

“Since the beginning of 2016, Israel has demolished, on average, 29 Palestinian-owned structures per week, three times the weekly average for 2015,” he said.

‘Firing zones’

Last week, the European Union hit out at Israeli authorities after they demolished a school funded by the French government.

COGAT, the defence ministry body responsible for coordinating Israeli government activity in the Palestinian territories, put the number of buildings at 20.

In the West Bank, an estimated 18 percent of the area has been declared by the Israeli authorities as “firing zones”, and 38 Palestinian communities are located within these areas.

Because the Israeli Civil Administration prohibits building in these areas, wide-scale demolitions frequently take place.

The Israeli military is also frequently accused of carrying out punitive demolitions against the family homes of individuals suspected of attacks against Israelis.

While the Israeli military stopped punitive demolition orders in 2005, following reports by an Israeli military committee that the practice did not deter attacks, the practice was resumed in July 2014.

Throughout occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, some 90,000 Palestinians are facing potential displacement, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Iran: GCC’s terrorist label for Hezbollah is a mistake

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Tehran says decision to label the Lebanese group a terrorist organisation undermines peace and the unity of Lebanon.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Iran was 'proud' of Hezbollah [Misha Japaridze/AP]

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Iran was ‘proud’ of Hezbollah [Misha Japaridze/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Iran’s deputy foreign minister has said that a decision by a Saudi-led bloc of Gulf Arab states to label the Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organisation was a “mistake”.

Iranian state TV on Thursday quoted Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying that the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) move would undermine peace in the region and the unity of Lebanon.

He said it was a “new mistake” by the GCC and that Iran was “proud” of Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani said that the six Gulf monarchies took the decision because “the [Hezbollah] militia recruited young people [from the Gulf] for terrorist acts”.

Hezbollah, a Shia political organisation with an armed wing, fights in neighbouring Syria to support the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Sunni-dominated GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf nations have taken a series of measures against Hezbollah since Saudi Arabia last month halted a $4bn programme funding French military supplies to Beirut.

Hezbollah is backed by Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran, with whom relations have worsened this year. The two nations are on opposing sides in conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Announcing the military funding cut last month, a Saudi official said that the kingdom had noticed “hostile Lebanese positions resulting from the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state”.

Riyadh would be conducting “a comprehensive review of its relations with the Lebanese republic”, the unnamed official told the AFP news agency.

He specifically cited Lebanon’s refusal to join the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in January.

Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after demonstrators set fire to its embassy and a consulate following the Saudi execution of a prominent Shia cleric.

‘Spare Lebanon’

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah lashed out at Saudi Arabia during a televised speech on Tuesday.

“The kingdom is trying to put pressure on the Lebanese to try to silent us but we will not be silent on the crimes the Saudis are committing in Yemen and elsewhere,” Nasrallah said.

“Does Saudi Arabia have the right to punish Lebanon, its state and its army because a certain party has decided to raise its voice?” he asked.

“If they have a problem with us, let them keep it with us, and let them spare Lebanon and the Lebanese,” Nasrallah added.

Jamal Abdullah, head of the Gulf Studies Unit at the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, said he did not believe that the Gulf decisions targeted Lebanon as a whole.

“The relations between Gulf states and Lebanon are governed by diplomatic norms and strong links from their shared membership in the Arab League,” Abdullah said.

The GCC supported Hezbollah throughout the past three decades in its resistance against Israel. However, the bloc has always condemned Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syria.

“This was a milestone in the nature of the relationship between Hezbollah and Gulf countries,” Abdullah said.

UN warns of hunger crisis in Central African Republic

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WFP says it only has about half of the funds needed to help 2.5 million people who are facing acute food shortages.

Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging [AP]

Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging [AP]

by Al Jazeera

At least half of the population or 2.5 million people in the Central African Republic are facing a hunger crisis, in a situation that has become dire, the World Food Programme said.

Bienvenu Djossa, WFP country director in CAR, said on Tuesday that the number of people battling hunger had doubled from 2015 and serious interventions had to be implemented to ensure the crisis did not deteriorate.

“It is serious. The situation is worse than last year,” Djossa said a statement.

“It is crucial that we continue helping the most vulnerable, who need emergency food assistance to survive. This is the time when people need the maximum help possible as it is also the lean season, when people struggle to have enough food to eat before the next harvest.”

Three years of bloodshed and the displacement of nearly one million people from their homes have disrupted harvests and sent food prices soaring in the volatile country.

The WFP’s call for CAR not to be forgotten comes as the UN revealed that overall crop production in 2015 remained 54 percent below the pre-crisis average.

“Some 75 percent of people in CAR depend on agriculture, and with the planting season starting in less than two months, boosting agriculture now is crucial to revitalising the economy and to stability in the country,” FAO Country Representative Jean-Alexandre Scaglia said in a press release on Monday.

The WFP said that families are so short of food that children receiving school meals under the WFP’s emergency programme put part of their serving in a plastic bag to take home.

Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging.

The country suffered the worst crisis in its history in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters toppled then leader Francois Bozize. Christian militias responded by attacking the Muslim minority.

Killing and looting had almost halved the number of cattle and reduced the number of sheep and goats by almost 60 percent, the UN said. Damage to infrastructure and insecurity had also hit fishing.

An escalation of violence in September helped exacerbate a massive increase in food prices, the agencies said, with the price of beef almost double pre-crisis levels.

WFP said it had only secured about half the $89m it needs until the end of July to respond to the needs of 1.4 million people in CAR and neighbouring countries hosting CAR refugees.

Israeli army kills Palestinian in Qalandiya incursion

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At least ten Palestinians injured by live fire in clashes with Israeli army in occupied West Bank refugee camp.

Clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli forces broke out after soldiers entered the Qalandiya camp [File: Majdi Mohammed/AP]

Clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli forces broke out after soldiers entered the Qalandiya camp [File: Majdi Mohammed/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian and injured several more by live ammunition during an incursion into a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Eyad Omar Sajadiya, 22, was shot dead, while at least ten others were injured by live fire during Tuesday morning’s clashes with Israeli troops in the Qalandiya refugee camp, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The armed clashes broke out after an army jeep entered the camp – situated between occupied East Jerusalem and the central West Bank city of Ramallah – by mistake, an Israeli police spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

Palestinian protests against Israel’s occupation have increased and tensions have soared in the occupied territories and Israel since October, as anger gave way to violence.

A wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories since October has killed 178 Palestinians as well as 28 Israelis, an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean, according to an AFP toll.

Arrests

Before dawn on Monday morning, Israeli forces carried out raids in cities and towns across the West Bank, arresting at least 27 Palestinians.

Later in the day, Israeli troops arrested two Palestinians who allegedly carried out shooting attacks in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a focal point during the recent unrest.

In a statement, the Israeli army said the two men – Nazar Badi, 23, and Akram Badi, 23 – both confessed to carrying out at least five shooting attacks targeting Israeli settlers in Hebron’s Old City between November and January, according to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency.

Hebron is divided into three spheres of control – including full Palestinian Authority administration, joint administration between Israeli military forces and PA police, and full Israeli control.

Amid the 37,000 Palestinians that live there, thousands of soldiers are stationed in the “H2 area” of the city – under full Israeli military control – to protect the 600-strong Jewish settler population.

Dozens of Israeli military checkpoints severely restrict Palestinian movement into, out of and within Hebron.

Upwards of half-a-million Israelis live in more than 150 Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

Pakistan hangs Mumtaz Qadri for murder of Salman Taseer

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Mumtaz Qadri was executed for the 2011 killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who sought to reform blasphemy laws.

Pakistan hanged the convicted killer of a former governor shot dead in 2011 [Anjum Naveed/AP]

Pakistan hanged the convicted killer of a former governor shot dead in 2011 [Anjum Naveed/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Pakistan has hanged the assassin of a governor who sought to reform the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, officials and supporters said

Mumtaz Qadri – feted as a hero by many supporters – was executed at a prison in Rawalpindi.

“I can confirm that Qadri was hanged in Adialia jail early Monday morning,” police official Sajjid Gondal told the AFP news agency.

Qadri, a bodyguard of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, shot him dead in the capital, Islamabad, in 2011.

Dozens of rangers and police in riot gear as well as ambulances were stationed outside Qadri’s home in the city early on Monday.

During his trial, Qadri’s legal defence was that Taseer opposed Pakistan’s so-called blasphemy laws by supporting Christian woman Asia Bibi, who was charged with allegedly desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

Qadri was convicted and sentenced in late 2011. But he is viewed as a hero by many people who thought Taseer was a blasphemer.

Blasphemy is a highly controversial issue in Pakistan, and angry mobs have killed many people accused of insulting Islam in the Muslim-majority country. The law does not define blasphemy but stipulates that the penalty is death.

Since 1990, dozens of people have been extrajudicially killed as a result of blasphemy cases.

The main road between Rawalpindi and the capital Islamabad was blocked by protesters within hours of the hanging.

“At this time, the sentiments of all Muslims have been injured, and our feelings have been badly hurt. For any Muslim believer – no matter what school of thought he belongs to – Ghazi Mumtaz Qadri is a hero of Islam,” said Tahir Iqbal Chistie, president of Sunni Tehreek, Rawalpindi Chapter, during the protest.

“He sent to hell a person who showed disrespect for the holy Prophet. What he did was according to the orders of the Quran and the collected reports of what the Prophet Muhammad said and did during his lifetime,” he added.

Police later dispersed the demonstrators and closed off the road to prevent more protests.

Qadri’s attorney, Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, predicted larger demonstrations coinciding with Qadri’s funeral, which his legal group said would be held on Tuesday.

Some lawyers showered Qadri with rose petals when he first arrived in court days after the killing. The judge who first convicted him was forced to flee the country after death threats.

Thousands may have starved to death in Syria: UN

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As UN prepares to roll out aid in besieged areas, official says “thousands” cut off may have already starved to death.

Residents work on fixing a house in the town of Darat Izza, province of Aleppo on Sunday [Reuters]

Residents work on fixing a house in the town of Darat Izza, province of Aleppo on Sunday [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The United Nations human rights chief warned on Monday that thousands of people may have died of starvation during sieges affecting nearly half a million people in war-torn Syria.

The comments by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein came as the first major ceasefire in the five-year conflict entered its third day, and as the UN prepared to deploy trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into the country during the lull in fighting.

“The deliberate starvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges,” said Hussein.

He added: “Thousands of people may have starved to death.”

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from the Turkish border town of Gaziantep, noted that US Secretary of State John Kerry had accused the Syrian government of using food as “a weapon of war”.

“This war in recent months hasn’t just been fought with weapons – it has also been fought through the use of food,” he said. “The guns here haven’t gone totally silent, so it’s still dangerous for aid workers.”

The UN and its partner organisations were planning to start delivering aid to Syrians in several besieged areas previously cut off by the violence.

A UN spokesman told Al Jazeera that trucks bound for Mouadamiya in the southern outskirts of Damascus were loaded and were planning to move shortly.

Aid deliveries were also planned to arrive in the towns of Zabadani, Kefraya, Fouaa and Madaya by Wednesday.

The deliveries are part of humanitarian aid planned for 1.7 million people in hard-to-reach areas in the first quarter of 2016, Yacoub El Hillo, UN Resident Coordinator in Damascus, said in a statement on Sunday.

The UN estimates there are almost 500,000 people living under siege of a total of 4.6 million who are hard to reach with aid.

“It is the best opportunity that the Syrian people have had over the last five years for lasting peace and stability,” El Hillo said.

“But we all know that without a meaningful political process and a political solution, both cessation of hostilities and entry of humanitarian assistance will not be enough to end the crisis in Syria.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone on Sunday at the initiative of Moscow on the progress of the ceasefire, Russia’s foreign ministry reported on Monday.

Syria’s main opposition grouping, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), on Sunday described the ceasefire as “positive”, but lodged a formal complaint with the UN and foreign governments about breaches on the first day.

A HNC letter to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, accused Bashar al-Assad’s government and its allies of committing “24 violations with artillery shelling and five ground operations … in 26 areas held by the moderate opposition”.

The letter, signed by HNC head Riad Hijab, also criticised Russia for conducting “26 air strikes on areas falling within the ceasefire”.

It said continued breaches of the ceasefire would make peace talks unattainable.

Syria’s ally Russia has said it has only targeted areas under the control of  al-Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Nusra and ISIL are excluded from the terms of the international pact.

Iran elections: Crucial polls a test for Rouhani

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After nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions, voting will gauge reaction to political policies of Iran’s moderates.

iran_elections

by Al Jazeera

Iranians cast their ballots to elect new members of parliament and a council of clerics in elections seen as a referendum on President Hassan Rouhani’s rule.

An estimated 50 million people are eligible to vote on a pre-selected list of candidates during the polls on Friday.

The elections take place just a month after years of economic sanctions against the country were lifted.

Surveys indicated a higher turnout than at the previous parliamentary polls four years ago, but lower than the presidential contest that elected Rouhani in 2013.

Voting started at 8am local time (04:30 GMT).

Rouhani said he had reports of a high turnout, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“Election is a symbol of the political independence of a country. By voting people decide the future of their country,” Rouhani was quoted as saying after casting his vote.

The parliament, also known as the Majlis, has 290 members who are responsible for passing legislation in the country, approving the annual budget and international agreements, including the recent nuclear deal with the West.

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from a packed polling station in Tehran, described the vote as a litmus test for Rouhani’s signature move – the nuclear deal with the West and the subsequent lifting of economic sanctions that had strangled its economy.

“This whole business right now is colossal for Iran. This about the influence of Rouhani and his more moderate policies – reformist policies that he wants to bring through against the conservatives,” Simmons said.

The council of clerics, also known as the Assembly of Experts, is composed of 88 members who will pick the next Supreme Leader in case of a vacancy. Members serve for eight years.

The current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 76 and has a history of health issues, making the role of this elected body crucial.

Among the most prominent candidates are Rouhani and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Hassan Khomeini, a reformist and grandson of the first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was disqualified.

Last week, the Guardian Council – the electoral body under the Supreme Leader – disqualified almost half of the 12,000 candidates.

A total 6,229 were allowed to run including 586 women – or 9.4 percent of the total candidates.

Hopefuls only had one week to campaign from February 18 to last Wednesday, giving establishment candidates the advantage and party backing. Some 250 parties are registered.

An estimated 60 percent of Iran’s 81 million population is 30 years old or younger.

Among the the most pressing issues in the elections are the economy, foreign affairs, and human rights.

In 2015, the country faced 15.3 percent inflation. An estimated 25 percent of its youth are unemployed.

With the lifting of sanctions, Iran aims to improve its economy by producing an additional one million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2016, and return to the 3.5 million bpd level it produced before economic sanctions were imposed in 2011 and 2012.

Its move to increase oil production is a factor in the drop of oil prices in the world market, hurting other oil-producing countries including its main rival, Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the country continues to engage in a high-stakes proxy war with Saudi in places such as Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and relations between the two countries remain tense after the execution of Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-­Nimr and the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran in early January.

Freedom of expression also remains a major issue in Iran, with several journalists, artists, and other activists imprisoned.

The most prominent figure in the Green Movement, Mir ­Hossein Mousavi – who was a 2009 presidential candidate – remains under house arrest.

Iran ranks second to China in the number of death penalties. The latest figures from Amnesty International in July 2015 said 694 people were executed, although official numbers during the same period indicated 246 executions.

Syria government willing to accept cessation deal

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Damascus accepts terms of US-Russia agreement, as opposition raises concerns about armed groups not included in deal.

bashar-al-assad

by Al Jazeera

Syria’s government has said it will accept a halt to “combat operations”, after the US and Russia agreed on a plan for the cessation of hostilities to begin this weekend.

Several parties to the conflict, however, were sceptical that any peace deal would actually take effect.

In a statement on Tuesday, President Bashar al-Assad’s government said it would coordinate with Russia to decide what other groups – along with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Nusra Front – should be excluded from the plan.

The government stressed the importance of sealing its borders, halting foreign support to armed groups and “preventing these organisations from strengthening their capabilities or changing their positions, in order to avoid what may lead to wrecking this agreement”.

The announcement from Damascus came after the US and Russia said on Monday that the International Syria Support Group had agreed to terms for a cessation of hostilities in Syria.

The agreement called on all sides to sign up to the agreement by midday on Friday, February 26 and to stop fighting by midnight.

Hours after the agreement was announced, the Syrian Opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) – the major opposition bloc involved in negotiations – said it would accept the terms of the deal.

It added, however, that it does not believe Assad’s regime and its allies would do the same.

“Our main concern in the opposition is that both Russia and the regime are not serious about their commitments to the cessation of hostilities,” said HNC spokesman Riyad Naasan Agha.

“Excluding ISIL and Nusra can be a ploy by the regime and their allies to keep slaughtering our civilians and trying to finish off the real Syrian opposition.”

Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays, reporting from New York, said some critics believed the timing of the deal would allow different sides in the conflict to push for more territory in the lead-up to the truce on Friday.

“Given everything that is happening in Syria, there is not a great deal of optimism about the proposed cessation of hostilities, particularly as many observers fear there will be an increase in the violence – with the warring sides trying to make gains in the days before it is due to start,” he said.

Underscoring those concerns, Russian air strikes continued to pound rebel-held areas of Aleppo city on Monday night, as the government’s offensive continued in the province.

Elsewhere, fighting took place on Tuesday between Syrian rebels and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in rural areas in the north and west of the province.

Syria’s civil war started five years ago when initially peaceful protests against Assad’s rule gave way to a war that has killed at least 250,000 people and forced millions from the country.

Turkey’s capital Ankara rocked by deadly explosion

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At least 28 killed and 61 wounded after car bomb reportedly targets military personnel travelling in heart of city.

Ankara-car-bomb

by Al Jazeera

At least 28 people have been killed and 61 more wounded in a large explosion targeting a military vehicle in heart of the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Gaziantep, said officials believe a car bomb had caused the explosion on Wednesday evening and the target had been Turkish military personnel, who were travelling in a vehicle which was stopped at a traffic light.

The death toll rose steadily on Wednesday night, with those wounded in the blast sent to hospitals across the city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an urgent emergency meeting with top level security officials in Ankara.

“We will continue our fight against the pawns that carry out such attacks, which know no moral or humanitarian bounds, and the forces behind them with more determination every day,” Erdogan said in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but government officials said they were treating the incident as a “terrorist” attack.

Analysts and unnamed Turkish officials said the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) armed group would be among the leading suspects.

The explosion was heard across the capital when it went off at about 6.15pm local time.

The attack happened at the height of evening rush hour, not far from Turkey’s parliament, government buildings and military headquarters.

Witnesses shared images on social media showing a large plume of smoke rising into the sky and and local news footage showed a large fire burning at the site of the explosion.

“This is really in the heart of the Turkish capital – it is clearly a message to the Turkish government,” Khodr said.

“This is the fourth major explosion in Turkey in the past few months.”

‘Terrorist’ act

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in a speech that the “blatant, treacherous attack” was well organised.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Twitter the attack was an act of terrorism. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who had been due to leave for a trip to Brussels later on Wednesday, cancelled the trip, an official in his office said.

A Saudi-born Syrian suicide bomber, widely believed to be inspired by the Isamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), detonated a bomb in the historic district of Istanbulin January, killing at least 10 people and injuring 15 others.

Turkey has become a target for ISIL, with two bombings last year blamed on the armed group in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara. The latter killed more than 100 people.

Violence has also escalated in the mainly Kurdish southeast since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July between the state and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) armed group, which has been fighting for three decades for Kurdish autonomy.

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