Explosives, suicide belts found on suspects at Syria border: Turkish Army

ANKARA - Agence France-Presse

DHA Photo

Turkish security forces seized explosives and four suicide vests in the baggage of a group of suspects stopped at the border with Syria, the Turkish Army said Feb. 10.

“Between 12 and 15 kilos of explosives and four belts that could be used for suicide attacks were found in two bags,” the army said in a statement.
  
A group of 34 people – four men, 10 women and 20 children – were stopped in the southeastern border town of Karkamış, the statement said.
  
The army did not refer to any terror group in its statement, but Karkamış lies across the border from the Syrian town of Jarabalus, which is currently controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
  
The seizure comes as around 30,000 Syrians are huddled on the border with Turkey at Öncüpınar, around 100 kilometers west of Karkamış, after fleeing a major government offensive, backed by Russian air power, in Aleppo.
  
Turkey, already hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees, has so far refused to let the new wave into the country, providing humanitarian assistance instead across the border.
  
The United Nations on Feb. 9 urged Turkey to open its borders to the Syrians, who have overwhelmed the emergency camps, where huge crowds including women and children have been forced to sleep in tents or in the open.
  
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş has said that a “worst case scenario” could see up to 600,000 refugees arrive at the border.