Turkey identifies suspect in suicide attack as dead activists mourned

Turkey said Tuesday it had identified a suspect over a devastating suicide bombing on the border with Syria blamed on Islamic State jihadists, as the government rushed to bolster security on the porous frontier. Thirty-two people were killed and more than 100 wounded on Monday when a bomb ripped through a gathering of young socialist activists preparing to take aid over the border into the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane. The attack in Suruc, in a mainly Kurdish region of Turkey, was one of the deadliest in the country in recent years and the first time the government has directly accused Islamic State of carrying out an act of terror on Turkish soil.

One suspect has been identified. All the (suspect’s) links internationally and domestically are being investigated.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Police in Istanbul used tear gas and water cannon on Tuesday evening to disperse hundreds of pro-Kurdish activists who took to the streets to demonstrate over the attack and condemn government policy on Syria. Demonstrations also took place in the predominantly Kurdish town of Nusaybin on the border with Syria. The Hurriyet daily said Turkey’s intelligence agency had previously warned the government that seven IS members – three of them women – had crossed into the country in recent weeks with the aim of carrying out attacks. Previous reports had suggested the bomber was a woman but the DIHA news agency said the suspect was a 20-year-old Turkish man who had become involved with IS two months ago. The IS group, which has captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq adjoining the Turkish border, has so far not claimed the Suruc bombing.

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