Members of Turkish Police Special Forces secure the area near the Interior Ministry following a bomb attack in Ankara, Oct. 1, 2023, which left two police officers injured. (Credit: Adem Altan/AFP)
BEIRUT — An explosion shook Turkey’s capital, Ankara, near the Turkish parliament Sunday, in what the country's interior ministry called a "terrorist attack," injuring two police officers.
Although uncommon in recent years, Turkey faced a series of terrorist attacks at the peak of the Islamic State group’s activity between 2015 and 2017.
Below is a timeline showing major attacks in Turkey:
July 2015: Almost 30 people were killed and over 100 wounded, mostly young students, when a bomb exploded in the southeastern town of Suruc, on the border with Syria.
August 2015: A police station in Istanbul was bombed, injuring five police officers and two civilians.
September 2015: Kurdish militants killed 15 police officers in two bombings in eastern Turkish provinces of Mardin and Igdir.
October 2015: Two explosions in the center of Ankara killed at least 95 people and injured nearly 200 others. Turkish courts issued lifetime sentences to the perpetrators, who are allegedly linked to the Islamic State.
February 2016: 28 people were killed and 60 wounded in a car bomb in Ankara, near military buses close to the armed forces' headquarters, parliament and other government buildings.
March 2016: 37 people were killed when a car laden with explosions exploded in the area of Istanbul's popular tourist center Taksim Square.
May 2016: 16 people were killed in an explosion in southeastern Turkey. Security sources said Kurdish militants were believed to have been transporting explosives.
June 2016: A triple suicide bombing and gun attack killed 45 people and wounded more than 160 at Istanbul's main airport. Turkey’s security forces said they arrested the perpetrators, who were allegedly linked to IS, and later received life sentences.
August 2016: A suicide bomber attacked a wedding celebration in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkish, killing least 51 people. President Tayyip Erdogan said the attacker was a member of the IS.
Also in August, a suicide truck bombing at a police headquarters in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast killed at least 11 and wounded dozens more.
December 2016: 44 people died and more than 150 were wounded outside an Istanbul football stadium after car and pedestrian suicide bomb attacks. Most of the victims were police officers.
January 2017: At least 39 people were killed and dozens more wounded in an attack on Istanbul's La Reine nightclub. Several of the victims were young Lebanese, who had traveled to Turkey to celebrate the new year.
That same month, a car bomb killed a Turkish police officer and a court employee in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir. At least 10 people were wounded.
July 2019: At least three people were killed in a car bomb blast in the town of Reyhanli, near the Syrian border.
September 2019: Seven people were killed and 10 others wounded in southeast Turkey’s Diyarbakir province when an explosive device placed on a road went off just as a vehicle carrying villagers passed by.
November 2022: Six people were killed and a dozen others wounded when a bomb exploded on a crowded street in the center of Istanbul.