Turkey probing Iranian link to blast near Syrian border

Ankara, Aug. 24 (ANI): Turkey has said that it is investigating a potential Iranian role in a bombing by a Kurdish separatist group near its border with war-torn Syria.

By investigating an Iranian link to the car bomb that killed eight, including children, in the city of Gaziantep on Monday, Turkey's capital Ankara has fuelled fears that the Syrian civil war is growing into a regional conflict.

Senior Turkish leaders have expressed alarm at the rise of groups linked to the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) since the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the north near Aleppo.

According to the Telegraph, Turkey has already warned its NATO partners that it is taking steps to establish a safe haven free of government influence around its border with Syria.

Bulent Arin?, the deputy prime minister, said that the attackers could be state-sponsored, but that the government's suspicions were not limited to Damascus, the report said.

"This [investigation] is not limited to Syria. We are investigating all potential foreign sources that could have had a finger in such an attack, including Iran, and others," Arin?, a close ally of the Turkish leader, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, said.

The PKK, a 1970s-style terrorist movement, has enjoyed protection from the Syrian regime in Kurdish parts of Syria for decades, the report said.

But the emergence of groups tied to it as the de facto rulers of swathes of territory has complicated Turkey's response to the revolt forcing the collapse of Assad's dictatorship, the report said.

According to the report, Turkey is reported to be keen for military intervention to stabilize Syria sooner rather than later. (ANI)