Updated | Two blasts kill 86 at Ankara peace rally

At least 86 people were killed this morning after a peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara was rocked by a bomb explosion near the city's central train station.

Turkish government officials said the explosions were a terrorist attack carried out by a suicide bomber but no group has yet claimed responsibility.

A video on social media showed the moment of one explosion: young people were dancing and waving banners as a massive fireball erupts.

The explosions occurred near a train station where people were gathering for a peace march to protest against the conflict between the state and Kurdish fighters in southeast Turkey.

Video footage on social media showed several bodies lying on the ground, as survivors tried to give first aid to the wounded. 

Emergency crews were at the scene, responding to the injuries, with ambulances rushing off to several local hospitals. There were reports of shortages of blood and calls for donations.

It is thought that the attack was targeting a march calling for an end to the violence with the Kurdish separatist group, the PKK. The government is understood to be investigating the possibility that the explosions were a suicide attack.

The pro-Kurdish HDP party was among those calling for Saturday's rally for "peace and democracy", which was due to start at 12:00 local time. An HDP rally in the city of Diyarbakir had also been bombed in June, ahead of general elections.

PATLAMA ANI ve söylenenler çok manidar... #Ankaradayız #AnkaradaPatlama pic.twitter.com/rtOoDaMIm9

— Mustafa Yalçın (@ptmustafayalcin) October 10, 2015

The Turkish president, Tayyip Erdoğan, condemned the double bombing, saying the attack targeted the country’s unity and peace. Erdoğan said: “I strongly condemn this heinous attack on our unity and our country’s peace.

“No matter what its origin, aim or name, we are against any form of terrorist act or terrorist organisation. We are obliged to be against it together.”

The president said there was no distinction between the terrorist attack in Ankara, which came just three weeks ahead of parliamentary elections, and the ones targeting Turkish soldiers and police.

“Like other acts of terror, the attack at the Ankara train station is taking aim at our unity, brotherhood and future,” he added. “The solidarity and determination we are going to display in the face of this attack will be the biggest and the most meaningful response to the terror.”

Erdoğan urged people to be “against, not on the side of terror” and said the perpetrators of Saturday’s attack would be found in the shortest time and delivered to justice.

Some witnesses said ambulances could not immediately reach the scene of the attack, and that police obstructed the quick evacuation of the wounded from the square. Turkish MP Sirri Süreyya Önder also claimed a suspicious vehicle and another suspicious package had been found and that bomb-disposal experts had been called to the scene.

In the aftermath of the attack those involved in the peace march tended to the wounded, as hundreds of stunned people wandered around the streets. Bodies lay in two circles around 20m apart where the explosions had taken place.

Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chair of the HDP party, said : “We are witnessing a massacre here. A cruel and barbarian attack was carried out. The death toll is high.”