A suspected Islamic State suicide bomber on Monday killed at least 31 people in an attack on a Turkish cultural center where activists had gathered to prepare for an aid mission to the nearby Syrian town of Kobane.
The blast ripped through the center in Suruc — a town just across the border from Kobane, which was later hit by a suicide car bombing — blowing out the windows and starting a fire, witnesses said.
Most of the dead were university students who were planning to enter Syria to help rebuild Kobane, which was occupied by the Islamic State for months before being recaptured by Kurdish forces in January. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on a visit to northern Cyprus, condemned the attack as an “act of terror.”
Photo: AFP
“On behalf of my people, I curse and condemn the perpetrators of this brutality,” he said. “Terror must be condemned no matter where it comes from.”
TV footage showed several people lying on the ground covered in blood and ambulances rushing to the scene. Journalists’ pictures showed bodies covered in blankets lain out in the center’s garden.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed the Islamic State for what was “clearly a terrorist attack.”
“Preliminary findings point to it being a suicide attack carried out by DAESH,” Davutoglu said in Ankara, using an Arabic acronym for the extremist group. “But we are not at a point to make a final judgement.”
If confirmed, it would be the first such attack by Islamic State fighters against Turkey, a regional military power and NATO member.
Local resident Mehmet Celik told reporters the town was “in chaos.”
The pro-Kurdish HDP part’s Alp Altinors said the group of about 300 activists who gathered in Suruc from across the country were from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations and that most were students.
Social media images showed the group relaxing over breakfast in the garden a few hours before the noon blast.
A video circulated by the private Dogan news agency showed a spokesman for the activists saying into a microphone: “We, the youth, are here. We have defended Kobane together and now we are setting out to rebuild it together.”
Davutoglu said the blast aimed to undermine Turkish democracy.
“This attack targets us all,” he said, dispatching three ministers to the southeastern region.
“DAESH threatens not only Syrian people, but also Turkey,” he added.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest condemned the “heinous” attack, as did Russian President Vladimir Putin, who labeled it a “barbaric act” and called for greater international cooperation in fighting terrorism.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius also joined in the condemnation.
The attack in Suruc was followed closely afterwards by a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in Kobane, which killed two members of the Kurdish security forces, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Kobane has been a symbol of resistance against the extremists since Islamic State fighters were driven out by Syrian Kurdish forces backed by US-led airstrikes.
Turkey’s Kurds were frustrated at the time by Ankara’s refusal to intervene to rout the insurgents, who have seized large parts of Syria and Iraq over the past year. Ankara’s critics accused it of tolerating or even aiding the militants, as a useful ally against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Erdogan wants ousted — allegations vehemently rejected by Ankara.
In recent weeks, Turkish authorities have stepped up their actions against the extremists, arresting dozens of suspected militants and sympathizers.
Ankara categorizes the Islamic State as a terrorist group, but has been a reluctant member of the US-led coalition fighting the group, refusing to give its NATO ally the use of Incirlik Air Base in the south for raids on the extremists.
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