Turkey says it is time for nations to act against Assad

3^min

Nine Turkish citizens believed to have links to the Syrian intelligence agency have been detained in connection with twin car bombings that shattered a Turkish border town, officials said Sunday, as Syria rejected allegations it was behind one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in years.

The bombings left 46 people dead and marked the biggest incident of violence across the border since the start of Syria's bloody civil war, raising fears of Turkey being pulled deeper into the conflict.

Harsh accusations from both sides signaled a sharp escalation of already high tensions between the two former allies, with Turkey vowing a strong response and Syria branding Turkey's prime minister "a butcher."

Saturday's twin bombings fifteen minutes apart damaged some 850 buildings in the town, a hub for Syrian refugees and rebels just across the border from Syria's Idlib province. It also wounded dozens of people, including 50 who remained hospitalized Sunday.

On another note, Syria's opposition coalition will meet in Istanbul on May 23 to decide whether to participate in a U.S. and Russian-sponsored conference to try to end the Syrian civil war, coalition officials said.

The conference will also elect a new head of the Western and Gulf-backed coalition, and discuss the fate of provisional prime minister Ghassan Hitto, who has come under heavy criticism, the sources said.

Positions:

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday it was time for the international community to take action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with the security risks in Turkey and Syria's other neighbors mounting.

Davutoglu was speaking at a news conference in Berlin a day after twin car bombs ripped through the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, killing 46 people - an attack that Turkish officials blamed on fighters with links to Assad's administration.

For his part, Interior Minister Muammer Guler, who was also speaking on Turkish television, said the attacks on Saturday were carried out by a group known to the Turkish authorities and with direct links to Syria's Mukhabarat intelligence agency.

This comes as Syria denied Turkish accusations that it had a hand in twin car bombings on Saturday.

"Syria did not and will never do such a act because our values do not allow this. It is not anyone's right to hurl unfounded accusations," Syrian Information Minister Omran Zubi was quoted as saying on state media.

On the field:

Syrian rebels have freed four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers who they had captured on the ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week, al Jazeera English television reported.

The channel quoted sources as saying the four had been "transferred to Israel".

REUTERS/LBCI/AP

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