Deadly car blast rocks Turkey-Syria border

2013-02-11 31

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: At least seven people were killed and dozens wounded when a car exploded at a crossing on Turkey's border with Syria near the Turkish town of Reyhanli on Monday.

The mayor of Reyhanli said four of those killed were Turkish and that the car which exploded had Syrian license plates. Witnesses said they saw it drive up to the border post shortly before the explosion.

There was severe damage to a series of cars at the border, where a gate was blown open and part of the roof collapsed.

The Cilvegozu border gate, several kilometers outside the town of Reyhanli, sits opposite the Syrian gate of Bab al-Hawa, which the rebels captured last July.

Turkey is a staunch supporter of the almost two-year-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has harbored both Syrian refugees and rebels.