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Explosion Kills 28 in Turkey

A huge explosion has hit Suruc city of Turkey’s Sanliurfa province, leaving at least 20 injured, Milliyet newspaper reported.

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A Turkish security official told Reuters 20-25 people had been wounded and confirmed that some had been killed, but could not immediately say how many.

Authorities said the explosion occurred during a press conference during a ceremony to open a cultural center.

Initial reports said the explosion was a suicide attack and the bomber was reportedly a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The blast went off in the garden of a culture centre hosting members of a Socialist youth group in Suruc, on the opposite side of the border from the embattled Syrian city of Kobani.

The group was staying at the cultural centre.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a near simultaneous attack near the Syrian town of Kobane across the border from Suruc, “strengthens our suspicions”.

Kobani was also the scene of surprise ISIS attacks last month that killed more than 200 people.

Several hundred thousand refugees are sheltered in camps along the border with Syria but the vast majority of them are scattered throughout the country including the mega city Istanbul.

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Turkey has long been under global pressure to tighten the security of its volatile 911-kilometre (566-mile) border with Syria to cut the flow of militants who try to join the ranks of the Islamic State militants.

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