2 Turkish Police Killed in Attack Close to Syria Border, Gov’t Holds Security Talks

Local Editor

Two Turkish police were found dead Wednesday in the southeastern town of Ceylanpinar close to the Syrian border, two days after a deadly suicide bombing in the same region, the local governor said.

It was not immediately clear if the attack had "terrorist connections", Turkish television quoted the governor of Sanliurfa region, Izzettin Kucuk, as saying.

NTV television and the state news agency Anatolia quoted Kucuk as saying the police had been found dead in an apartment building.

The Hurriyet daily reported both had been shot in the head. This comes as the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will chair a cabinet meeting Wednesday on bolstering security along the country's porous border after a devastating bombing blamed on "ISIL".

Thirty-two people were killed and more than 100 wounded Monday when a blast ripped through a gathering of young socialist activists preparing to take aid over the border into the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobani.

Authorities said Tuesday they had identified a suspect in the suicide bombing in the town of Suruc, in a mainly Kurdish region on the Syrian border, the first attack on Turkish soil that the government has blamed directly on "ISIL" militants.

In harrowing scenes earlier in the day, relatives of the dead clutched the victims' coffins in a farewell ceremony in the southeastern city of Gaziantep ahead of their burial in towns across Turkey.

The killings prompted angry demonstrations by pro-Kurdish activists in several towns, who took to the streets to condemn the attack and protest against Ankara's policy in Syria.

Turkey has long been accused of helping the rise of "ISIL", which controls a large swathe of territory in neighboring Iraq and Syria, and even colluding with the group - allegations it vehemently denies.

In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannons at a crowd of some 800 people that had gathered chanting anti-government slogans, including: "Murderer state will be brought to account." Demonstrations also took place in the predominantly Kurdish town of Nusaybin on the border with Syria.

Speaking during a visit to Sanliurfa, the hub of the region where Suruc is located, Prime Minister Davutoglu said there was a "high probability" the suicide bomber had connections to "ISIL", without giving further details.

"One suspect has been identified. All the [suspect's] links internationally and domestically are being investigated," Davutoglu said, vowing to do "whatever is necessary against whomever is responsible."

"We expect this investigation to be concluded as soon as possible," he said, after visiting the 29 wounded still in hospital. "This is an attack that targeted Turkey."

The cabinet will Wednesday discuss an "action plan" on border security, and the government would then take the "necessary measures" to ensure Turkey's security, the premier said.

"Conflicts abroad should not be allowed to spread to Turkey," he said, insisting that the government had "never had any direct or indirect connection with any terrorist organization."

The Hurriyet daily said Turkey's intelligence agency had previously warned the government that seven "ISIL" members - three of them women - had crossed into the country in recent weeks with the aim of carrying out attacks.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team