Two suicide bombers caught on Turkey’s border with Syria

ŞANLIURFA

File photo.

Five militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), including two alleged future suicide bombers, have been caught while trying to illegally cross the border from Syria to Turkey, Doğan News Agency reported on Jan. 7. 

Turkish gendarmerie forces caught five people, who were trying to illegally enter into the Ceylanpınar district of the southern province of Şanlıurfa from the Rasulayn town in Syria.

During their testimonies, the five people were determined by the authorities to be members of the PKK and the PYD. Two of the five detained were determined to have received training in PKK camps in Rasulayn, which is under the control of the PYD, and were trying to cross into Turkey in order to conducted a suicide attack inside the country.

The Doğan News Agency reported that the two suicide bombers had aimed to conduct a suicide attack in Istanbul and Ceylanpınar.

The interrogation of the five militants was reported to be ongoing. 

Turkey regards the PYD as a terror organization due to its links with the PKK. The United States, however, does not regard the PYD as a terror organization, and regards it as a reliable partner in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Like Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union designate the PKK as a terrorist organization.