Turkish TV: Explosion kills 10 people near border with Syria

An explosion has killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more in the south-eastern Turkish city of Suruc, near the Syrian border.

A Turkish security official told Reuters 20-25 people had been wounded and confirmed that some had been killed, but could not immediately say how many.

A Turkish government official said the blast was in the garden of a cultural centre.

The blast came as Turkey was stepping up its role in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Kobani was the site of one of the biggest battles against Islamic State previous year.

On June 12, Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman also revealed that Ankara allows ISIL terrorists to freely walk in the streets of the Akcakale border district in Sanliurfa.

The centre, which is run by the Suruc municipality under the control of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), frequently hosts visiting journalists and volunteers who work with refugees from Kobane. The city has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance against the group.

Several hundred thousand refugees are sheltered in camps along the border with Syria but the vast majority of them are scattered throughout the country including the mega city Istanbul.

But ISIS launched a surprise attack on the Syrian town last month, staging three suicide bombings and re-entering the town. “If an Islamic State militant can blow himself up in the middle of these people, everybody should be held accountable for this”.