ANKARA: A car bombing in a busy square in central Ankara on Sunday killed at least 27 people and wounded 75 others, the provincial governor's office said.

“The blast was caused by a vehicle packed with explosives close to Kizilay square,” an official statement said. The square is a key commercial and transport hub close to the city's embassy area.

Ambulances rushed to the scene of the explosion on Kizilay square, a key hub in the city, and television pictures showed burnt-out vehicles including a bus.

Forensic police work near burnt-out vehicles at the scene of a blast in Ankara. —AFP

A local news channel said the explosion occurred as a car slammed into a bus, suggesting that the blast may have been caused by a car bomb. Several vehicles had caught fire, it said.

Police sealed off the area and pushed onlookers and journalists back, warning there could be a second bomb.

Medical sources said the wounded had been taken to 10 different hospitals around the city, with a dozen said to be in a very serious condition.