ANKARA, Feb 4: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticised Europe over inadequate support for Ankara's fight against terrorism, calling on some countries to extradite suspected extremists wanted by Turkey.

“Terrorists who commit the bloodiest murders in Turkey are freely circulating in European countries,” Erdogan said during his visit to Prague, in remarks carried by Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

He singled out France and Germany, urging both countries to extradite suspected members of banned organisations to Turkey.

His remarks came after a radical Turkish Marxist group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C), claimed responsibility for Friday's bomb attack at the US embassy, where a Turkish security guard was killed. The group DHKP-C, which is fiercely anti-US and is blacklisted by Washington and the European Union as a terrorist organisation, identified the bomber as Alisan Sanli who was previously jailed in Turkey for his involvement in an attack on an Istanbul military compound in 1997.

Media reports revealed that Sanli went to Germany after he was released from prison in Turkey in 2001 but German authorities had not put him under surveillance because he was not thought to pose a threat.

Erdogan said he expected a “sincere” approach and solidarity from Europe in Turkey's fight against terrorism.—AFP