MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi on Sunday rejected Turkey's allegations that Damascus was responsible for two car bombings that killed over 40 people in a Turkish town near the Syrian border and wounded dozens of others.
"Syria did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow this," he said at a press conference broadcast by state television, adding that "no one has the right to make false accusations."
Two explosive devices, supposedly car bombs, went off on Saturday afternoon in Reyhanlı, a town near the border with Syria where many Syrian refugees have fled amid an ongoing civil conflict in their country. The blasts did serious damage to nearby buildings, causing one of them to collapse. The death toll currently stands at 46, and more than 100 people were injured.
Ankara was quick to blame the Syrian regime for the bombings. Turkey's Interior Minister Muammer Guler said on Saturday the government had identified the attackers.
"We have established that they are linked to groups supporting the Syrian regime and its intelligence services," he told the national TRT television.
In the meantime, Syria’s Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad said on Sunday Damascus was urging Turkey and other countries to unite their efforts in the struggle against terrorism.
“We are against terrorism wherever it takes place. Turkey and other countries of the world must unite in the struggle against terrorism. We must fight against it because terrorism has no borders,” Haddad said.
