Kurdish Freedom Falcons claim responsibility for Ankara bombing

By Gul Tuysuz, CNN

(CNN)A Kurdish rebel group has claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in the Turkish capital city that killed at least 35 people.

The bombing in Ankara on Sunday was the work of a female suicide car bomber, Seher Cagla Demir, who was identified in a statement posted Thursday on the website of the Kurdish Freedom Falcons, or TAK.

Who are the Kurdish people?

Before the claim of responsibility, Interior Ministry officials also identified the bomber as Demir and said she is believed to have received training from the Syria-based Kurdish rebels known as the YPG.

In the statement on its website, TAK -- an offshoot of the Kurdish separatist group, PKK -- confirmed that Demir led a team of attackers, referring to her as "our comrade."

Ally or foe?

Turkey and the United States consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization, but the two NATO allies have been at loggerheads over the classification of the YPG. While Turkey views the group as an extension of the PKK and therefore a terrorist organization, the United States sees it as one of its most reliable and effective allies in the fight against ISIS in Syria. From time to time, Turkish artillery pieces have fired across the border at YPG positions in Syria.