News heard that almost 100 others were wounded in the
explosion, which may have been caused by a female suicide attacker from the Islamic
State group, officials say.
Kobane has seen heavy fighting between IS militants and
Kurdish fighters.
It was retaken by the Kurds from IS forces earlier this
year. Turkey's Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said initial findings suggested the attack was the
work of IS.
"Turkey has taken and will continue to take all
necessary measures against Islamic State," Mr Davutoglu told a news
conference in Ankara, according to Reuters.
"Measures on our border with Syria... will be
increased," he added. The Federation
of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) is reported to have had at least 300
members staying at the Amara Culture Centre in Suruc, where the explosion
happened.
The young people had been planning to travel to Kobane to
help with rebuilding the town.
A video released on social media apparently showed the
moment of the blast, at a news conference taking place in the centre's garden.
In the video, a group of young people are chanting slogans
while holding the federation's flags and a large banner with the words:
"We defended it together, we are building it together."
Graphic images of the aftermath show bodies littering the
ground, with the red flags being used to cover them.
The district governor of Suruc, Abdullah Ciftci, said: "The fact
that it is a suicide attack increases the possibility that IS is responsible.
"We think the attacker was a woman.
"Preliminary findings show that she was acting on her
own,"
he told BBC
Turkish.
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