Turkish Deputy Prime Minister
Besir Atalay said initial findings of an investigation into car bombs that
killed at least 43 people on Saturday showed the attackers were linked to
Syria's intelligence agency, broadcaster NTV reported.
The blasts occurred in the town of Reyhanli close to the border and home to many of the more than 300,000 refugees who have sought shelter from the uprising against Assad that erupted in Syria in March 2011.
Earlier, a Syrian activist said rebels have been able to cut a
newly built desert road linking the capital Damascus with the northern
city of Aleppo
Rami-Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, said rebels took over two army posts on the road near
Aleppo after days of fighting.
The regime built the desert road as a backup route after rebels captured
the town of Maaret al-Numan in October cutting the main highway between
the country's two largest cities.
The Observatory also reported clashes in the town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon.
The fighting in the town came a day after U.N. commissioner for human
rights Navi Pillay expressed alarm over Qusair, which has been besieged
by Syrian troops for several weeks.
Positions:
Car bomb attacks which killed 20 people in a southern Turkish border town on Saturday may have been related to the conflict in Syria or to Turkey's own peace process with Kurdish militants, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said.
"We are going through sensitive times, we started a new era, the Kurdish issue solution process. Those who cannot digest this new era ... could take such actions," Erdogan said in comments broadcast on Turkish television.
"Another sensitive issue is that Hatay province (where the explosions occurred) is on the border with Syria, these actions may have been taken to provoke those sensitivities," he said.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
warned against testing Turkey's power, saying Ankara would take
necessary measures to protect itself.
On another note, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had announced on Tuesday that they would
seek to organize a conference on Syria and expressed hope it could be held this
month.
In turn, the United States strongly
condemned twin car bombings which killed around 40 people in a Turkish town
near the Syrian border on Saturday and vowed solidarity with Turkey in
identifying those responsible.
"The United States strongly condemns
today's vicious attack, and stands with the people and government of Turkey to
identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice," US Ambassador to
Turkey Francis Ricciardone said in a statement.
REUTERS
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