Syria accused of seeking to pull Turkey into a ‘quagmire'

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference that nine people -- all Turks -- were detained for questioning and that some had confessed involvement in the attacks, which also left dozens wounded.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Damascus of trying to drag his country into the Syrian "quagmire" after twin bomb attacks killed 46 people in a town on the border.

Turkey said Sunday it had arrested nine people over the twin car bombings that sowed death in Reyhanli the previous day, but the Syrian government denied any involvement.

Ankara said it was holding suspects who had confessed and accused Damascus of trying to drag Turkey into its civil war.

"They want to drag us down a vile path," Erdogan said at a rally in Istanbul, urging Turks to be "level-headed in the face of each provocation aimed at drawing Turkey into the Syrian quagmire".

The attacks were the deadliest incident in what observers see as an increasing regionalisation of the conflict that started in March 2011 and came as key brokers Washington and Moscow made an unprecedented joint push for peace talks.

Speaking during a visit to Berlin, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the attacks a breach of Turkey's "red line" and warned that Ankara reserved the right to "take any kind of measure" in response.

Cranes were seen lifting debris from buildings destroyed by Saturday's blasts in Reyhanli, a major Turkish hub for Syrian refugees and rebels.

The attacks provoked a backlash against Syrian refugees as rampaging crowds wrecked dozens of cars, according to witnesses.

"I heard the first blast, walked out, thinking it was a missile being fired from Syria. Then I found myself on the ground, my arms and right leg hurting, my ears ringing. It must have been the second bomb," said Hikmet Haydut, a 46-year-old coffee shop owner who had minor injuries to his head and body.

"I am alive, but all I have is gone."

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference that nine people -- all Turks -- were detained for questioning and that some had confessed involvement in the attacks, which also left dozens wounded.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the explosives were smuggled into the area, then placed into Turkish vehicles with special compartments to conceal their deadly cargo.

"A spark transforms into a fire"

The suspects were said to belong to a Turkish Marxist organisation with direct links to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Damascus rejected the allegations that it masterminded the attacks.