Yesterday, Turkish police narrowly averted a huge car bomb attack in the capital of Ankara.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police foiled a bomb attack in Ankara on Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of 9/11 attacks on the United States, averting what officials said would have been a disaster for the capital.

Ankara governor Kemal Onal said police had found a vehicle packed with explosives in a multi-storey car park in a central district of the city of four million. Shops and offices in the area were quickly evacuated.

“The police efforts prevented a possible disaster … It is too early to say who was behind this but the bomb was big and I do not want to think what might have happened if it had gone off,” Onal told reporters.

Private broadcaster NTV said police had found about 300 kg of explosives in the vehicle, a stolen mini-bus parked on the second floor of the car park.

UPDATE at 9/12/07 11:22:27 am:

The finger seems to be pointing at Kurdish rebels.

Experts said explosives found in the vehicle, which was stolen from Istanbul last year and yielded no fingerprints, were similar to those seized in the past from Kurdish separatists. Police have said the findings so far suggest Kurdish rebels were behind the foiled attack.

Sniffer dogs led officers to the blue minibus as Turkey, an ally of the United States, had increased security ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The governor’s office said police found sacks of bomb-making materials, including chemicals and gas canisters connected to a cell phone — a method often used by Kurdish rebels in roadside bombings against troops in the Kurdish-dominated southeast near the Iraqi border.