At Least 28 Dead And Several Injured After Blast in Turkish Town, Suruc

At least 28 people have been killed and nearly 100 others have been wounded in a suspected suicide attack in the Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border.

According to the Interior Ministry, the blast occurred at the Amara Cultural Centre, ripping through the place opposite the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane. Turkish officials indicated it was a “terrorist attack” by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The force of the explosion was so powerful that it shattered the windows of centre’s building and set off a fire, witnesses said. Television footage revealed the victims lying on the ground covered in blood, later being rushed to hospitals nearby.

"We call on everyone to stand together and remain calm in the face of this terrorist attack which targets the unity of our country," the Ministry said in a statement. "The Turkish authorities have strong reason to believe that the terrorist attack was perpetrated by IS," a government official told AFP news agency.

Suruc, a rural district in a remote Turkish province provided shelter to hundreds of refugees who have fled fighting in Kobane between IS militants and Kurdish fighters since later last year, as the IS group attacked the town. At least, 300 members were staying at the cultural centre, as part of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations’ (SGDF) rebuilding program in Kobane.

The federation tweeted graphic images of the scene immediately after the attack.

Meanwhile, a BBC regional expert said, the suicide bomb attack on Monday was one of the bloodiest suicide attacks in Turkey in years.

Latest reports suggested that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's asked the Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus, along with the Interior and Labour Ministers to visit Suruc personally.

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