‘Terror attack’ hits Turkish-Syrian border town

Initial investigations indicate that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants were responsible for a suicide bomb which killed 30 people in a town near the Syrian border on Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

“Preliminary findings point to it being a suicide attack carried out by Daesh,” Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara, using an Arabic name for ISIS.

“But we are not at a point to make a final judgment.”

Davutoglu said the bomber had not yet been identified.

The bomb attack ripped through a cultural centre in Suruc, a townopposite the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane, leaving 30 people dead and 104 wounded.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack as an “act of terror.”

“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,” Erdogan said during a visit to the Turkish breakaway state in northern Cyprus.

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

The White House said on Monday it strongly condemns what it described as a “heinous terror attack.”

“We express our solidarity with the Turkish government and the Turkish people and reaffirm our undeterred resolve to the fight against the shared threat of terrorism,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a briefing with reporters

Davutoglu denounced it as a “clearly terrorist attack” which targeted Turkey’s peace, democracy and public order.

“This attack targets us all,” he said, urging all political parties and people to demonstrate unity.

The pro-Kurdish HDP party blamed the Davutoglu government for a security and intelligence vacuum in relation to the bombing.

Davutoglu dismissed the criticism and said: “Turkey has always taken measures against Daesh and similar kind of organizations.”

Turkish authorities have cracked down on ISIS networks, arresting dozens of suspects in recent weeks, and beefed up its border with Syria with tanks and anti-aircraft missiles as well as additional troops.

The prime minister said it was obvious that the measures had caused discomfort within ISIS.

“Daesh constitutes a threat not only to Syrian people but also to Turkey,” he stressed