ABC NEWS
Updated 2 hours 21 minutes ago
Photo: Residents evacuate a wounded woman to hospital after car bombs in the Turkish town of Reyhanli, near the main border crossing into Syria. (AFP: Anatolian News Agency)
Turkish officials have been swift to point the finger of blame at Syria after two car bombs exploded in a border town, killing at least 40 people and injuring 100 more.
The deadly bombs ripped into crowded streets in the town of Reyhanli, an entry-point for refugees fleeing the violence in Syria.
Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc says the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government is the "usual suspect" in the attacks.
"With their secret services and armed groups, they are certainly one of the usual suspects to instigate and carry out such an outrageous plot," he told Turkish television.
He has stressed that an investigation has only just begun, but also recalled that Turkish authorities hold Syrian secret services responsible for a similar attack that killed 17 in February.
Another deputy prime minister, Besir Atalay, has suggested the attackers came from inside Turkey, but have links to Syria's intelligence agency.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu says it is "not a coincidence" that the bombings occurred as international diplomatic efforts to solve the Syrian crisis are intensifying.
"There may be those who want to sabotage Turkey's peace, but we will not allow that. No one should attempt to test Turkey's power," he told reporters in Berlin.
However, he has warned it is too early to make a clear judgement about the attack.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, nor has there been any comment from Damascus.
The Syrian opposition says the attacks are designed to drive a wedge between Turks and Syrians.
The explosions happened near Reyhanli's shopping district in the early afternoon, scattering concrete blocks and smashing cars in the town.
Restaurants and cafes were destroyed and body parts were strewn across the streets.
The damage went at least three blocks deep from the site of the blasts.
Photo: A woman stands on the site where car bombs exploded near the town hall in Reyhanli (AFP: Anatolian News Agency)
Rescuers are hunting for possible survivors buried underneath the rubble of buildings destroyed by the blasts.
The attack sowed panic among residents in Reyhanli, a town of about 60,000 people, leading to tensions between youths and Syrian refugees living locally and forcing police to fire into the air to disperse the crowd.
Interior minister Muammer Guler says the regional governor has been sent to Reyhanli "to put the necessary security measures in place" following the attack. Later on Saturday, a third blast occurred nearby but it turned out to be an exploding fuel tank, unrelated to the attacks.
Turkey supports the uprising against Mr Assad and violence has crossed the border before, but not on the same scale.
The bombings are the bloodiest incident on Turkish soil since Syria's conflict began more than two years ago.
The United States and Russia, one of the few remaining supporters of Mr Assad's regime, pledged this week to relaunch efforts to solve the conflict, which the United Nations estimates has killed 70,000 people since March 2011.
The US has strongly condemned the bombings, as has France and Britain.
Reyhanli lies in southern Turkey near the Cilvegozu crossing opposite Syria's rebel-controlled Bab al-Hawa border post, the busiest crossing between the two countries.
The border area has witnessed a number of deadly attacks as the conflict in Syria spills over into Turkey.
ABC/AFP/Reuters
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, government-and-politics, turkey, syrian-arab-republic
First posted 8 hours 2 minutes ago
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