Eurasia Press & News
Turkey believes fighters loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were behind two car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town where thousands of Syrian refugees live, officials said on Sunday.
Authorities have arrested nine people, all Turkish citizens, including the alleged mastermind, after the bombings in Reyhanli on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said those involved were also thought to have staged an attack on the Syrian coastal town of Banias a week ago in which at least 62 people were killed.
The car bombs increased fears that Syria’s civil war was dragging into neighboring states despite renewed diplomatic moves toward ending two years of fighting in which more than 70,000 people have been killed.
“The attack has nothing to do with the Syrian refugees in Turkey, it’s got everything to do with the Syrian regime,” Davutoglu said in an interview on TRT television.
