Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to chair a Cabinet meeting yesterday on bolstering security along the country’s porous border after a devastating bombing blamed on the Islamic State group.
Thirty-two people were killed and more than 100 wounded on Monday when a blast ripped through a gathering of young people preparing to take aid over the border into the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane.
Authorities said on Tuesday they had identified a suspect in the suicide bombing in the town of Suruc, in a mainly Kurdish region on the Syrian border, the first attack on Turkish soil that the Turkish government has blamed directly on Islamic State militants.
Photo: AFP
In harrowing scenes earlier in the day, relatives of the dead clutched the coffins of those killed in Suruc during a farewell ceremony in the southeastern city of Gaziantep ahead of their burial in towns across Turkey.
The killings prompted angry demonstrations by pro-Kurdish activists in several towns, who took to the streets to condemn the attack and protest against Ankara’s policy in war-torn neighboring Syria.
Turkey has long been accused of not doing enough to halt the rise of the Islamic State, which controls a large swathe of territory in neighboring Iraq and Syria, and even colluding with the group — allegations it vehemently denies.
In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannons at a crowd of about 800 people that gathered chanting anti-government slogans, including: “Murderer state will be brought to account.”
Demonstrations also took place in the predominantly Kurdish town of Nusaybin on the border with Syria.
Speaking during a visit to Sanliurfa, the hub of the region where Suruc is located, Davutoglu said there was a “high probability” the suicide bomber had connections to the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“One suspect has been identified. All the [suspect’s] links internationally and domestically are being investigated,” Davutoglu said, vowing to do “whatever is necessary against whomever is responsible.”
“We expect this investigation to be concluded as soon as possible,” he said, after visiting the 29 people wounded in the attack who were still in hospital. “This is an attack that targeted Turkey.”
So far, Ankara has played only a secondary role in the US-led coalition that is fighting the Islamic State and has been wary of backing the militant group’s Kurdish opponents, saying the priority is the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Davutoglu said Turkey was now taking steps to improve security at its borders, which has long been criticized by Ankara’s Western partners as lax.
Turkish authorities point to the challenge of controlling the 911km border with Syria, while remaining open to refugees fleeing the country’s civil war, as well as 38 million tourists a year.
The Cabinet was to discuss an “action plan” on border security, and the government would then take the “necessary measures” to ensure Turkey’s security, the prime minister said.
“Conflicts abroad should not be allowed to spread to Turkey,” he said, insisting that the government had “never had any direct or indirect connection with any terrorist organization.”
The Hurriyet daily said Turkey’s intelligence agency had previously warned the government that seven Islamic State members — three of them women — had crossed into the country in recent weeks with the aim of carrying out attacks.
Previous reports had suggested the bomber was a woman, but the DIHA news agency said the suspect was a 20-year-old Turkish man who had become involved with Islamic State two months ago.
Islamic State has so far not claimed the Suruc bombing.
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