32 killed in first Daesh suicide bombing in Turkey

ANKARA: A suicide bomber attacked on Monday a cultural centre hosting anti-Islamic State activists in a Turkish town near the border with Syria, killing 30 people in a first-ever “act of terror” blamed on the Daesh group.
The blast ripped through the centre in Suruc, a town opposite to the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane — which was itself later hit by a suicide car bombing.Most of the dead were university students who had been planning a mission to help Kobane residents, according to a pro-Kurdish party official.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on a visit to northern Cyprus, condemned the attack as an act of terror. “On behalf of my people, I curse and condemn the perpetrators of this brutality,” he said. “Terror must be condemned no matter where it comes from.”
The force of the explosion blew out the windows of the building and set off a blaze, witnesses said. Television footage showed several people lying on the ground covered in blood and ambulances rushing to the scene.
“The Turkish authorities have strong reason to believe that the terrorist attack was perpetrated by the ISIS,” a government official told AFP, using another name for the IS. If confirmed, it would be the first such attack by IS fighters on Turkey, a regional military power and Nato member.
The blast took place as an anti-IS group based at the cultural centre was preparing to announce a mission to Kobane.Alp Altinors from the pro-Kurdish HDP party said the group from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations was made up of about 300 people, mainly university students from across Turkey. “They were planning to build parks in Kobane, hand out toys for children and paint school walls,” he said.
“The town is in chaos. Almost all the shops are closed in Suruc,” local resident Mehmet Celik said. Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the “barbaric act” and said in a statement: “Fighting terrorism requires an active cooperation from the whole international community.”
EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a Twitter message: “Tragic consequences of Syrian conflict felt in a neighbouring country.”Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is sending three ministers to the southeastern region following the bombing, his office announced.
“We are calling on everyone to show common sense in the face of this terrorist attack targeting our country’s unity,” the interior ministry said.In Kobane, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint, killing two members of Kurdish security forces, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Kobane has been a symbol of resistance against the Jihadists since the IS fighters were driven out by Syrian Kurdish forces in January. —AFPAPP adds: Pakistan, while condemning in the “strongest terms” the terrorist attack in Turkey, reiterated its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack that took place in Suruc, Sanliurfa province of Turkey, in which so many precious lives have been lost,” the Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement issued here. “There are reports of scores of others having been injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families,” the statement said.