Large amount of explosives seized in Turkish town across from Kobane

GAZİANTEP

DHA Photo

Security forces have seized two sets of bombing equipment and explosives in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district across from Kobane in the past two days following a Feb. 13 bomb attack, daily Milliyet quoted sources as saying on Feb. 20.

Security teams have intensified their anti-terror searches after the bombing close to a police checkpoint.

The first seizure came on Feb. 14, when a car carrying a Diyarbakır traffic plate was stopped for searches, with police detaining five passengers. A bomb set-up developed from a fire extinguisher, 1.4 kilograms of TNT, a remote control and other equipment was allegedly found in the car. The remote control system was capable of triggering an explosion from 1.5 kilometers away, Milliyet said.

On Feb. 15, another two kilograms of TNT and similar equipment was found during the search of a house in the Çaykara neighborhood. Another set included 13 hand grenades. A third system was built with six kilograms of explosives.

The Feb. 13 bombing occurred near a police checkpoint close to the municipality-run Arîn Mîrxan refugee camp to the north of the town. Some observers suggested the bombing might have stemmed from continuing friction between the Democratic Regions Party (DBP)-run municipality and its refugee camps and the government-run AFAD camp on the outskirts of the town. In the wake of the explosion, security forces declared some areas close to the border as military exclusion zones.

Suruç is the Turkish town across Syria’s Kobane, where forces from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) gained power Jan. 26 after fighting for more than four months against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

The border witnessed the flight of an estimated 200,000 residents to Turkey.