SyriaPro-Assad group attacks Turkish border town, killing 46
A Turkish group affiliated with a Syrian Alawite militia and operating on orders of Syrian intelligence, carried out a suicide attack Saturday in the Turkish city of Reyhanli, killing forty-six people. More than fifty people are still being treated in local hospitals. Reyhanli is an entry point for refugees fleeing violence in Syria. The attack will increase pressure on Turkey to become more involved in the Syrian conflict.
Aftermath of suicide car bombing in Reyhanli, Turkey // Source: alriyadh.com
A Turkish group affiliated with a Syrian Alawite militia carried out a suicide attack Saturday in the Turkish city of Reyhanli, killing forty-six people. More than fifty people are still being treated in local hospitals.
Reyhanli is an entry point for refugees fleeing violence in Syria.
The Turkish police arrested nine of the attackers, all of them Turkish citizens, and said they were acting on orders of Syrian intelligence.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not be dragged into a “bloody quagmire.”
He called on Turks to be “extremely careful, extremely vigilant… in the face of provocations.”
“We will not be trapped. The aim of these attacks is to pit Turks against each other and create chaos. So I
call on all my citizens to keep calm.”
“This incident was carried out by an organization which is in close contact to pro-regime groups in Syria and I say this very clearly, with the Syrian Mukhabarat,” Interior Minister Muammer Guler told Turkish TV.
The BBC reports that Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi denied Syrian involvement in the bombing, and accused Turkis prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being “killer and as a butcher.”
Zoubi said it was the Turkish government that had facilitated the flow of arms, explosives, vehicles, fighters, and money across the border into Syria.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said those behind Saturday’s bombings were believed also to have been behind an attack on the Syrian coastal town of Banias a week ago, in which fighters backing President Assad in the civil war were reported to have killed at least sixty-two people.
The BBC notes that the attacks will put pressure on the Turkish prime minister to become even more involved in the on-going civil war in Syria. Turkey’s policy has always been to support the Syrian opposition but not become involved in the war. Saturday attacks now make it difficult for Turkey to carry on staying out of the conflict.
Erdogan is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama in Washington.
