ISIS suicide bomber blows himself up at a cultural centre in Turkey


ISIS suicide bomber blows himself up at a cultural centre in Turkey

 

Suruc explosion kills scores of young socialists planning Kobani rebuilding


Daily Mail – At least 28 people have been killed in a suicide bombing at a cultural centre in the Turkish town of Suruc, close to the border with Syria.

The blast in the town – which lies opposite the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane – was described as a ‘terrorist attack’ by the interior ministry, who stopped short of declaring it the work of ISIS militants.

But Turkish officials speaking anonymously said an initial investigation suggests the terror group are behind the atrocity, which comes just days after Turkey made its first serious efforts to combat ISIS with a round of arrests of militants and their supporters in the country.

Several Turkish media reported fatalities and private television station NTV said scores had been killed and about 100 wounded. 

Witnesses said fire broke out after the strong explosion which smashed the windows of the building.

Television footage showed several people lying on the ground covered in blood and ambulances rushing to the scene.

The blast came as Turkey was stepping up its role in the fight against ISIS.

Last week, security forces arrested dozens of militants and sympathisers in the most significant action by Ankara against the Sunni terror group, who have seized swathes of neighbouring Iraq and Syria since 2014.

A Turkish government official confirmed to AFP journalists that the explosion occurred in the garden of a culture centre in Suruc but declined to provide any casualty figures.

The blast took place as a group from Turkish left-wing youth associations were preparing to make a press statement Suruc to announce they would cross into Kobane. 

The group was staying at the cultural centre.

Shortly after the attack in Suruc, a second bomb went off afterwards south of Kobane near a Kurdish militia checkpoint on the road to Syria’s largest city of Aleppo, according to Kurdish officials.

It caused minor damage and no casualties, he said. 

Suruc, once a centre of silk-making, is now home to one of the biggest refugee camps in Turkey housing Syrians who have fled the bloody four-year conflict at home.

The camp, which opened in January, shelters about 35,000 refugees who crossed the border after Islamic State jihadists seized Kobane last year.

 



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