Turkey’s main Kurdish party accused the government of turning a blind eye to IS militants on its soil on Saturday after suicide bombers attacked the town of Kobane along its southern border with Syria.
Four IS militants blew themselves up in Kobane, one detonating a car bomb at the Mursitpinar border crossing. At least 30 people were killed in clashes across the town, Reuters quoted a monitoring group and local officials as saying.
The Britain-based group calling itself Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a Kurdish official in the town, Idris Nassan, said the vehicle used in the dawn car bombing had come from Turkish territory.
Kurdish militia have been holding off IS for more than two months in Kobane. Neither side has gained a decisive advantage despite US-led air strikes meant to push back the insurgents.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP party said the militants were using state grain depots on the Turkish side of the border as a base from which to attack Kobane and described their presence in an area patrolled by Turkish security forces as a “scandal”.
“As we have been pointing out for months, this once more proves that IS is being supported (from within Turkey),” the HDP said in a statement.
Turkey has vehemently denied supporting the extremist groups, saying they are also a threat to its own national security.
The stance has infuriated Turkey’s Kurds, prompting violent protests in October in which around 40 people were killed.
The Observatory said IS fighters had fired at least 110 shells on Kobane and were bringing in tanks.
At least 30 fighters were killed, said Rami Abdulrahman, the Observatory’s director. Twenty-one were IS fighters, including the four bombers. The rest were Kurdish forces.
