Post date: May 12, 2013 8:47:2 PM
Turkish Interior Minister says the bomb devices that killed more than 40 people on Saturday were brought to Turkey from Syria by illegal means.
REYHANLI, TURKEY (MAY 12, 2013) (REUTERS) - The bomb devices that killed 46 people in the border town of Reyhanliwere illegally brought into Turkey from Syria, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said on Sunday (May 12).
The two car bombs, which ripped through crowded shopping streets in Reyhanli on Saturday (May 11), increased fears that Syria's civil war is dragging in neighbouring states, despite renewed diplomatic moves to end it.Turkey accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out the deadly car bombings and called on the world to act against the government of PresidentBashar al-Assad.
When asked if the bombs were from Syria, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Gulersaid the devices were smuggled into Turkey from Syrian border and planted into vehicles in the southern province of Hatay,
"We have discovered that the materials were brought to Hatay by illegal means and the cars were taken from there, and they were delivered to auto repairs on behalf of certain people and disguised chambers were built into the cars to put (in) the bombs, and a group of people who assisted them took those cars out of the auto repair depots and to the blast scene," Guler said.
Damascus denied involvement.
NATO-member Turkey has fired back at Syrian government forces when mortars have landed on its soil, but despite its strong words has appeared reluctant to bring its considerable military might to bear in the conflict.
It is struggling to cope with more than 300,000 refugees but is not alone in fearing the impact of Syria's war, which is stirring the Middle East's cauldron of sectarian, religious and nationalist struggles.