Blast hits activists along Turkish-Syrian border
ISTANBUL -- An explosion left more than two dozen people dead and scores more injured Monday in the southeastern Turkish city of Suruc, near the Syrian border.
Turkey's Interior Ministry said at least 27 people were killed and nearly 100 hospitalized due to the blast, which initial reports suggested was caused by a suicide bomber.
"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 written statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. A Turkish official, however, said authorities have evidence that the attack was a suicide bombing and suspect the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was behind it. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Suruc is just across the border from the Syrian city of Kobani, the scene of fierce battles between Kurdish groups and ISIS.
DHA said the blast occurred at a cultural center while a political group was giving a statement to the press on Kobani's reconstruction.
Amatuer video from the scene showed chaos as distraught witnesses moved about many victims, both dead and badly injured, laying on the ground in an outdoor area.
Turkish media reported that 300 members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) were at the Amara Cultural Center on Monday, all as part of a planned summer expedition across the border to help rebuild Kobani.
Suruc hosts the largest refugee camp in Turkey, which has seen nearly two million Syrians cross its border to flee the fighting in their homeland.
More than 220,000 people have been killed and at least a million wounded since Syria's crisis began in March 2011, according to the U.N.
Kobani was also the scene of surprise ISIS attacks last month that killed more than 200 people.