ISTANBUL — A large blast ripped through the heart of Ankara, Turkey's capital, Sunday, killing at least 34 people and injuring 125, government officials said.
The explosion occurred in Kizilay Square, near a central bus station, a park and several government ministries. Television footage showed several vehicles on fire.
The Ankara governor's office said the explosion was believed to have been caused by a car bomb. On Friday, the U.S. Embassy there had warned Americans of a potential terrorist plot to attack Turkish government buildings and residences in Ankara.
Last month, a bombing on a military convoy in Ankara killed 28 people. A Turkish-based militant group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, claimed responsibility for that attack, identifying the bomber as a 26-year-old Turkish citizen. The Turkish government blamed a Syrian Kurdish militia that is supported by the United States in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.
Turkey has been shelling positions in northern Syria held by Kurdish militias that it deems to be extensions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party. The party, known as the PKK, has been fighting for autonomy for over three decades.
Shortly after the explosion Sunday, the Turkish broadcasting authorities issued a media ban on information and images about the attack. News channels broadcasting live from the scene quickly switched to their studios, where analysts were interviewed about broader security issues in Turkey.
Social media users complained that Twitter and Facebook were functioning slowly after the attack, and that some service providers had blocked them.
Photographs of the blast area Sunday showed several buses and vehicles on fire, as well as shattered glass from nearby shop windows.
"It looks and sounds larger than the attack last month," said Mehmet Arabaci, an Ankara resident who took photographs of the scene after hearing the explosion.
Arabaci said Ankara residents had been avoiding crowded areas after three major attacks in six months there killed over 150 people. "We don't know when and where there will be another attack, but it's apparent now that they can't be prevented, and everyone is on edge," he said.
In October, the capital was rocked by the deadliest terrorist attack in the country's modern history. Two suicide bombers believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State struck a peace rally, killing more than 100 people, mainly Kurds.
The bombing last month targeted the Turkish military in a response to counterinsurgency security operations in the predominantly Kurdish southeast. The attack Sunday appeared to have targeted ordinary citizens, stoking fears of a spillover of violence to metropolitan areas.