At least 20 people were killed Monday in an explosion in a cultural centre in the Turkish town of Suruc near the border with Syria, local television reported. The cause of the blast in the town — which lies opposite the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane — was not immediately clear.
But officials said it might have been a suicide bomb, and some commentators said it could have been the work of Islamist State (ISIS) militants. Several Turkish media reported fatalities and private television station NTV said at least 20 people had been killed and about 100 wounded.
Witnesses said fire broke out after the strong explosion which smashed the windows of the building. Television footage showed several people lying on the ground covered in blood and ambulances rushing to the scene.
The blast came as Turkey was stepping up its role in the fight against the ISIS group.
last week, security forces arrested dozens of militants and sympathisers in the significant action by Ankara against the jehadists who have seized swathes of neighbouring Iraq and Syria since 2014.
A Turkish Government official confirmed to AFP that it occurred in the garden of a culture centre in Suruc.But he declined to provide any casualty figures.