Suruc attack: 28 activists killed in Turkey border bomb

MONDAY 20 JULY 2015

At least 28 people, mostly students, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on a town near Turkey's border with Syria.

Officials said the evidence suggests that the attack, outside a cultural centre in the mostly Kurdish town of Suruc, was carried out by so-called Islamic State militants.

The blast hit a group of university-aged students who were gathered to make a statement to local press about a trip they were planning to help rebuild the Syrian town of Kobani, just six miles away.

The Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) had around 300 members staying at a local cultural Centre.

Kobani was the epicentre of a battle between Isis and Kurdish fighters, with the jihadist group repelled earlier this year. Isis began a new offensive on Kobani last month.

The students from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations had been planning to build a library, plant a forest and build a playground, a member of the group wounded in the blast told Reuters.

"We defended it together and we will rebuild it together", read one of the group's banners at the scene.

The explosion comes weeks after the Turkish government deployed additional troops and equipment along parts of its border with Syria - amid concerns fighting there could spill over into Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said 28 people were killed and around 100 wounded, though it is thought that the death toll could rise.

Turkish newspaper The Hurriyet Daily said the attacker was a young woman, though this has not been confirmed.