REYHANLI (TURKEY) IN one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in recent years, two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing 42 and wounding 140 others. A senior Turkish official blamed Syria, calling the neighboring country’s intelligence service and military “the usual suspects.” The blasts, which were 15 minutes apart and hit the town of Reyhanli’s busiest street, raised fears that Turkey could increasingly be drawn into Syria’s brutal civil war. “We know that the Syrian refugees have become a target of the Syrian regime,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said.
“Reyhanli was not chosen by coincidence.” “Our thoughts are that their mukhabarat (Syrian intelligence agency) and armed organisations are the usual suspects in planning and the carrying out of such devilish plans,” he said.
Arinc said the attacks were still being investigated, but that if it’s proven that Syrian was behind the attack, Turkey would “do whatever is necessary,” without specifying if that included military action.
One of the car bombs exploded outside the city hall while the other went off outside the post office. Reyhanli, a main hub for Syrian refugees and rebels in Turkey’s Hatay province, is just across the border from Syria’s Idlib province.
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