Top level security at Ankara's main bus terminal

After it was revealed that the bomb that killed 37 people in Ankara was transported to the city on an intercity bus, security measures at the main bus terminal of the city (A?T?) have been widely increased. According to a statement from Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, after the March 13 attack, A?T? was placed under the highest security measures. The station hosts an average of 80,000 people daily.

Number of entrance points to the terminal has been minimized while security checks have been tightened around the clock. While the luggage of passengers arriving at A?T? via Ankaray, the city metro line, are all x-rayed, the passengers themselves are searched with detectors.

Special security forces are continuously patrolling the terminal. Advanced security cameras in nearby buildings and green spots are constantly surveilling the area.

Arriving vehicles are also checked at the entrance of A?T? with their trunks opened and searched. Even pedestrians are searched with detectors and those who refuse to be searched are not allowed to go inside.

One of the suspects detained in connection with the car bomb attack, identified only by M.V.D., told police that the explosive material was given to him in the eastern province ?anl?urfa, from where he took the bag to Ankara via an intercity bus.

M.V.D. said he met Vahit A. in ?anl?urfa eight or nine days before March 11 at a place near the ?anl?urfa DS? dam. There, Vahit A. handed him a black-colored sports bag.

In his police statement, M.V.D. said, "When I asked him what was inside the bag, he said there were two plastic boxes; one of them was 5 kilograms, the other 10 kilograms. In one of them there was isot [a local red pepper] pepper; the other one was pepper paste but the...