JINHA

RIHA - A bomb has exploded in front of the Amara Culture Center in the town of Suruç, Turkey, where socialist youth hoping to travel to Kobanê were being housed. At least 31 have been killed.

The town of Suruç, Turkey lies just across the border from the city of Kobanê, in the Rojava autonomous region of Turkey. Yesterday, many from Turkey traveled to Suruç to celebrate the third anniversary of the revolution in Rojava, which began in Kobanê.

The Amara Culture Center was housing 300 young people from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations, who had traveled from Istanbul to Suruç yesterday to take part in the reconstruction of the city of Kobanê. The youth were holding a press conference outside the culture center today to announce their plans when the bomb went off.

The culture center's garden is covered in blood in the wake of the explosion. There are still dead bodies on the ground in the garden, as a limited fleet of ambulances works to transport the wounded to the hospital. As ambulances attempted to reach the culture center garden, police blockaded the area and began firing tear gas bombs on those trying to rush the wounded out of the area.

İsmail Kaplan, the co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) for Urfa province, has claimed that the bombing was a suicide attack. İsmail gave the death toll of the attack as at least 50.

Meanwhile, Reşat Doğan of the Urfa branch of the service and health workers' union SES reports that 31 have been killed in the attack. 25 of them were killed in the culture center garden, while six more died in hospital. Reşat reported that there are around 100 wounded and that there is an urgent need for blood in local hospitals.

(fk/cm)