Suruc attack: Suicide bomber kills dozens in Turkey near border with Syria

Several people killed and dozens wounded in explosion in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border

By Louisa Loveluck, and Raziye Akkoc, video source DHA

4:20PM BST 20 Jul 2015

A suspected female Islamic State suicide bomber has set off an explosion near a cultural centre hosting youth activists in a Turkish town near the border with Syria, leaving 30 dead and scores injured.

The blast ripped through the centre in Suruc, just a few miles from the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane - which was itself later hit in a co-ordinated suicide car bombing.

Most of the dead were university students with the Federation of Socialist Youths, who had been planning a mission to help rebuild Kobane, which was retaken by Kurds from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) militants earlier this year.

If Isil’s role is confirmed, it would be one of the extremist group’s deadliest strike on Turkish soil to date.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, condemned the attack which left 100 injured as an "act of terror", saying his nation was "drowning in grief".

_{A still taken from a video shot at the moment of the detonation in Suruc}

Turkish officials said they believed a female Isil sympathiser was responsible. A local journalist reported that one witness who spoke to him said she had seen a young woman in a suicide vest.

A second official also said Islamic State appeared to have been responsible and that the attack was a "retaliation for the Turkish government's efforts to fight terrorism".

Mr Erdogan's government has cracked down on Isil recruitment networks inside Turkish territory in recent weeks, responding to longstanding pressure from Western nations and Syrian rebels fighting the extremist group.

In photographs taken earlier on Monday morning, dozens of Turkish and Kurdish young men and women can be seen sharing food around long tables. But the explosion morphed the calm into bloody chaos.

In amateur video footage circulating online, activists were seen holding the federation's flags and a large banner with the words: "We defended it together, we are building it together" before a bomb tears through the group live on camera.

^{A group of 300 people in Suruc on their way to rebuild the Syrian town of Kobane moments before the explosion}

Survivors can be heard screaming as bodies lie strewn across the remains of the shattered table frames.

"I saw more than 20 bodies. I think the number of wounded is more than 50. They are still being put into ambulances," said one witness, who gave his name as Mehmet. "It was a huge explosion, we all shook."

Fatma Edemen, 22, said the federation of about 200 youths was pressing for access to help reconstruction in Kobane. The bomb exploded as their press conference was ending.

"We just heard from the cops that it was a suicide bomber," she said, speaking as she headed to a hospital to get treatment for minor injuries to her legs. "One of my friends protected me. First I thought 'I am dying' but I was OK. I started to run after I saw the bodies."

Speaking by phone, her voice shaking, she said the group had believed Kobane was relatively safe and ready to rebuild.

"Our friends went there and it didn't seem dangerous at that time. We couldn't even think something like that would happen," she said, adding that they hoped to build a kindergarten or something else for children in the devastated city.

"We wanted to do something, but they would not let us," she added.

Mr Erdogan condemned the perpetrators during a visit to the Turkish breakaway state in northern Cyprus.

"We are drowning in grief that 28 citizens died and a large number of people were injured as a result of an act of terror," he said.

"On behalf of my people, I curse and condemn the perpetrators of this brutality."

Aaron Stein, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, told the Telegraph the attack appeared to target Kurds and “a spillover of their fight with Isil”.

By attacking Turkey directly, “Isil would be signally a big shift in its military modus operandi, which is to leave Turkey alone in favour of consolidating its gains inside Syria”, Mr Stein said.

Richard Moore, the British ambassador to Turkey, said he was horrified by the attack and added that the UK stood shoulder to shoulder with Turkey.

^{Moments after the explosion in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border @kovandire}

"UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Turkey in condemning unequivocally all terrorism," Mr Moore said on his Twitter account. "I have kids that age."

As the civil war in neighbouring Syria continues through its fifth year, Isil has spread its recruitment tendrils through major Turkish cities, and established networks that transport men and women across the 566-mile northern border into Isil-held territory.

_{The scene after the explosion in the town of Suruc}

Mr Erdogan's government has only recently moved to restrict the flow of militants and trade, opening it up to accusations that it has played a key role in Isil’s expansion.

Suruc is a bastion of support for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Western-backed Kurdish militia that has led the fight against Isil along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

In January, Kurdish forces backed by rebel groups and US-led air strikes had pushed Isil out of Kobane after four months of fierce fighting in a hugely symbolic defeat for the jihadists.

But Isil launched a surprise attack on the Syrian town last month, backed by suicide car bombs and dressed in YPG uniforms.

Suruc is also home to one of the biggest refugee camps housing Syrians who have fled the bloody conflict at home. The camp, which opened in January, shelters about 35,000 refugees who crossed the border after Isil jihadists seized Kobane last year.

What is the significance of the attack?

According to Aaron Stein, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, an attack by Isil would be against Kurds rather than the Turkish state.

“The target was a small aid group that wanted to go help people in Kobane. So in that sense, I’m not sure the attack was targeted at the Turkish state per se but rather being wrapped up into this Kurdish-Isis [Isil] fight that’s been playing out over the last year.”

He said the attack after previous ones was indicative of a clear pattern of escalation by Isil, that they would use terror attacks rather than trying to take territory.

“They are using terror attacks to terrorise Kurds,” he told the Telegraph.

Mr Stein suggested the attack was unlikely to be aimed at causing problems with Ankara as Isil was still dependent on Turkey for the overland route and for smuggling goods, overtly and covertly. By attacking Turkey directly, “Isis would be signally a big shift in its military modus operandi, which is to leave Turkey alone in favour of consolidating its gains inside Syria”, Mr Stein said. He stressed that it was only pure speculation at this point.

“Isil is the most likely culprit and this would be the latest in a string of attacks against Kurds in Turkey done by alleged Isil sympathisers” including the attack in Diyarbakir on a HDP rally just days before the general election.

He said tensions between Turks and Kurds were “sky high” and that he expected them to get worse. This could, he warned, bring HDP closer to more militant side of the Kurdish nationalist movement and brings the possibility of reprisal attacks in the south-east.

Mr Stein pointed out that the attack on Monday was more sophisticated than the June 5 attack during which four people were killed and more than 100 wounded. He described the explosives used then as crude whereas Monday’s attack involved a more powerful suicide vest “that was far more devastating in terms of casualties”.

The associate fellow said it was really unclear how Turkey planned to respond but said that there would be a more concerted effort rhetorically by Turkey to make clear that it is not a friend of Isil and that it is also a victim of terror.