Blast in Turkey's Hatay province kills at least three near Syrian border
Three people were killed on Friday and two injured after a car blast in the Turkish town of Reyhanli close to the Syrian border, state media reported.
The governor of Hatay province, where Reyhanli is located, Rahmi Dogan, told Anadolu that the cause of the explosion was not yet known.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish interior ministry told him that the blast could be linked to "terrorism" and said three Syrians had been killed in the blast.
"It seems that the event has a terrorism element," he said, according to Daily Sabah. "It is evident there was a bomb in the vehicle."
The news site reported that the blast took place in the town centre, around 750 metres away from the district governorate building.
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Images in Turkish media showed thick black smoke and flames from the car as firefighters fought the blaze.
A twin car bombing in May 2013 in Reyhanli killed over 50 people in one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey's modern history.
At the time the government said it suspected the perpetrators were Syrian Resistance, a pro-Damascus group who have previously stated their intention to return Hatay province to Syrian control.
Turkey was hit by a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016 blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants, which left hundreds dead.
The last major attack was the New Year massacre by a gunman at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul just minutes into 2017 which left 39 dead.
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