Syria-Turkey tension: Reyhanli bombings tear apart communities

By Wyre Davies BBC News, Reyhanli, Turkey

Wyre Davies reports from devastated Reyhanli

Three days after huge car bombings in a Turkish border town, it is still not clear who carried out the attacks, although Turkey continues to blame agents of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

In the town of Reyhanli itself, the clear-up has begun but many locals are angry with the loss of life and property.
In some cases people are venting their anger on the thousands of refugees from Syria who, until the bombings, were welcomed to the area with open arms.
When Dr Najeb al Hadal fled across the Syrian border to the safety of Turkey six months ago, he was greeted by people who were horrified by the stories coming out of the civil war in Syria.
The doctor, his wife Esmahan and their five children were lucky to escape with their lives after their home in Idlib province was deliberately destroyed by forces loyal to the Assad regime.
Ugly new realities "There was a death sentence on my head," Dr Hadal tells me. "They knew I was treating the wounded from the fighting and had decided to get rid of me."
The family settled in well to their new home, a Spartan but comfortable apartment in the Turkish town of Reyhanli. The doctor and his wife both started work in local clinics treating Syrian refugees, and some locals too - he is an urologist and Esmahan is a gynaecologist.

Dr Hadal and his family fled Syria after their home was destroyed

But two days ago, everything changed.
On Saturday, two huge car bombs exploded in the centre of Reyhanli. Forty-six people were killed, mainly local Turks but some Syrian refugees as well.
Turkey has blamed the attack on agents of the Assad government. Damascus has denied the accusations, and the war of words between the two former close allies has reached dangerous levels, although Turkey has insisted it will not become embroiled in Syria's conflict.
For Syrian refuges the car bombings brought home some ugly new realities.
Huge loss On Saturday afternoon, amid chaotic scenes immediately after the bombings, Dr Hadal was ferrying the wounded to local hospitals in his car.

After what happened I've told everyone to keep a low profile. We haven't gone out of the house for two days”

Dr Najeb al Hadal Syrian refugee

At one point he left his vehicle and took his injured passenger inside to the emergency room for treatment. When he returned, Dr Hadal's car had been smashed up, the windscreen broken and the tyres slashed - all because it had, clearly visible, Syrian number plates.

Even though most locals here sympathise with the plight of Assad's opponents inside Syria, some say the sheer number of refugees has brought trouble to these border towns in Turkey.
There were very few Syrians in the centre of Reyhanli today. One man, identified as Syrian, was quickly surrounded, pushed around and screamed at by a mob of locals. He quickly made his escape.
Reyhanli's residents are justifiably angry. Their town is in ruins, hundreds of business have been destroyed or damaged and it will take a long time to get over the huge loss of life.
They blame everyone: their own government for giving aid and support to opponents of the Assad regime; the thousands of refugees who have inadvertently and unwillingly made the town a target for Assad's agents in Turkey; the media too, is rounded upon, all tarred with the same brush for its fear to criticise the Turkish government's policy on Syria.
As we tried to film among the ruins of Reyhanli's main square we were physically stopped and harassed by locals.
"You all come here and tell lies," shouted one man as my pleas to be allowed to continue filming fell on ears deafened by the devastating impact of Saturday's bombs.
There was no point hanging around. It was not violent but the residents of this border town are angry and their suspects are the usual ones.
'Everyone is suffering' Dr Hadal, his wife and their children all hope it will blow over and the town will once again feel as safe as it did just a week ago.
"After what happened I've told everyone to keep a low profile. We haven't gone out of the house for two days," says the doctor.

His wife interjects.
"The blood on the streets on Saturday was Syrian and Turkish blood," she says. "You can't separate these things, everyone is suffering."
Whoever carried out the bombings has deliberately and successfully driven a wedge between the two communities who always coexisted, even before the war with cross-border trade and their historic ties.
How Turkey's government responds to the bombings will be crucial.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said his country is not going to become dragged into Syria's war and the possibility of a full-scale regional conflict. But nor can he realistically reverse his commitment to support President Assad's opponents and shelter the thousands of refuges fleeing the fighting.
Dr Hadal and his family were lucky to escape from a brutal, vindictive regime in Syria.
They know that, one day, they will return to their homeland. But they are desperate not to be driven out of their adoptive home in Reyhanli - a town where they were once made to feel so welcome.

NEWS

Iranian Azim Aghajani convicted over Nigeria arms

Azim Aghajani (R) denies he is a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards

An Iranian man convicted of smuggling arms into Nigeria has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Lagos court.

Rockets, mortars and grenades were among the weapons seized from a ship which docked in Lagos in 2010.
Court documents said they were due for re-export to The Gambia, in defiance of a UN arms embargo on Iran.
Nigerian Usman Abbas Jega was convicted alongside Azim Aghajani, who is alleged to be a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and is on a UN blacklist.
'Praying continuously' They were convicted on four of five charges relating to the shipment, reports the AFP news agency

I strongly feel that a lot of pressure from the international community has influenced the way this case has gone on”

Chris Uche Defence lawyer

The crimes carried a potential life sentence, but Federal High Court Judge Okechukwu Okeke said he had been swayed by the defence's plea for leniency and the conduct of the men in detention, it reports.

The BBC's Will Ross reports from Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, that Aghajani prayed continuously as he awaited his fate.
The five-year sentence will be counted retroactively from when their trial began in February 2011, which means they will be freed in less than three years, AFP adds.
"In sentencing the accused, I have taken into consideration the plea for mercy by the defence team, but the law has to take its course," Judge Okeke is quoted as saying.
Defence lawyer Chris Uche said he would appeal against the ruling.
"I strongly feel that a lot of pressure from the international community has influenced the way this case has gone on,'' Mr Uche told journalists.
The United Nations placed Aghajani on a blacklist last year, labelling him a Revolutionary Guards member tied to "Iranian support for terrorism and extremism worldwide".
He denied the allegation.
The final destination of the weapons has not been established.
There has been speculation that they could have been intended for The Gambia's neighbour, Senegal, where there is a low-level rebellion in the south.
The incident led Senegal to recall its ambassador to Tehran.
It accused the Iranian government of failing to provide a "satisfactory" explanation about the destination of the weapons.
The Iranian government said the shipment belonged to a
Iran is under a UN arms embargo over its nuclear programme
private company and was being sent to a "West African country", which it did not identify.
The arms were found inside 13 shipping containers labelled as building material.

Kermit Gosnell guilty of three murders in late-term abortions

Dr Kermit Gosnell's case was seized on by both sides of the abortion.

A Philadelphia doctor has been convicted of the first-degree murders of three babies delivered and killed with scissors in late-term abortions.

Dr Kermit Gosnell, 72, was acquitted on another charge of killing a fourth baby, who let out a whimper before he cut its neck, prosecutors said.
He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter of an adult patient who died of an overdose.
The case was seized on by both sides in the US debate over abortion.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Gosnell.
He performed thousands of abortions over a career spanning three decades. Officials said his medical practice earned him about $1.8m (£1.1m) a year.
'House of horrors' Former staff members of the clinic testified that he had routinely performed illegal late-term abortions past Pennsylvania's 24-week limitEd Cameron Prosecutor

The trial heard how Gosnell would deliver babies alive then use scissors to "snip" - as he referred to it - their spines.

Among the untrained staff who helped to perform the terminations was Gosnell's wife, Pearl. She pleaded guilty to a number of charges and testified against him.
The trial heard that one of the babies was almost 30 weeks when aborted. Gosnell had joked that the baby was big enough to "walk to the bus". A second foetus was said to have clung to life for about 20 minutes.
A third was born in a toilet and seen moving before a clinic employee severed its spinal cord, according to testimony.
Gosnell's lawyer, Jack McMahon, had argued that none of the foetuses was born alive. Any movement was posthumous twitching or spasms, he said.

Defence lawyers for Kermit Gosnell said he was targeted because of his race

The attorney branded prosecutors "racist" for pursuing his client, who is black. Gosnell did not testify and no witnesses were called in his defence.
Prosecutors said Gosnell had run a filthy "house of horrors" with unqualified staff - including those who administered a lethal dose of sedatives to Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old refugee from Nepal.
Defence lawyers had argued the abortion patient's 2009 death was a result of unforeseen complications.
Prosecutor Ed Cameron said to Gosnell during closing arguments: "Are you human? To med these women up and stick knives in the backs of babies?"
"He created an assembly line with no regard for these women whatsoever," Mr Cameron had said.
Severed feet Officials said a raid of the clinic, in a poor section of West Philadelphia, had turned up bags and bottles of foetal remains, including severed feet.
The clinic also had bloodstained furniture, dirty medical tools and cats roaming the premises.

Karnamaya Mongar (left) died of a sedative overdose at the clinic

During the trial, Judge Jeffrey Minehart threw out three other murder charges involving aborted foetuses.
The jury was earlier deadlocked on two counts against Gosnell, but did not specify which of the multiple counts.
After the verdict was read on Monday, Gosnell appeared calm, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The jury will return next week to hear evidence on whether he should face the death penalty.
The trial became a cudgel for those on both sides of the US abortion debate.
Anti-abortion activists said the case exposed the grim reality of the procedure, and accused media of ignoring the case because of liberal bias.
But abortion rights groups warned it showed what would happen if laws on such procedures were tightened, driving desperate women to unregulated backstreet clinics.
The case also exposed failings by Pennsylvania's health authorities.
Officials had neglected to conduct routine inspections of all of its abortion clinics for 15 years by the time Gosnell's operation was raided and closed more than two years ago.
Two top state health department officials were sacked, and Pennsylvania imposed tougher rules for clinics.

NEWS

Libya deadly car bomb near Benghazi hospital

There are fears the death toll will rise further

Libya after Gaddafi

At least nine people, including children, have died in a car bomb blast near a hospital in the Libyan city of Benghazi, an official has told the BBC.

Defence ministry official Saleh al-Bargathi said 17 people had also been injured. However, other sources spoke of only three deaths.
The blast follows a string of bombings in the eastern city in recent days.
Security remains precarious in Libya since the uprising against long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
'Totally destroyed' Mr Bargathi told the BBC that two children were among those killed in the Benghazi blast.
Explosives were placed in a grey Toyota car, he said.

The explosion happened in the Jalaa hospital car park, according to AFP news agency.
It quoted Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Abdullah Massoud as saying that the bomb had "totally destroyed a restaurant and seriously damaged nearby buildings".
There are fears that the death toll will rise further.
So far no group has claimed responsibility for Monday's attack in Benghazi, which is regarded as the cradle of the revolution that ousted Gaddafi in 2011.
Angry crowds later gathered at the scene, blaming militants for the bombing and urging the authorities to drive them out of the city.
Many demonstrators chanted "Rise, Benghazi!"
"This is the flesh of our sons, this is what the militias have given us," one of the protesters was quoted as saying by Reuters. "All we need here are the police and the army."
This is the latest in a string of attacks across the country in recent months:

• At least three police stations were bombed in Benghazi last week - causing damage but not casualties
• In April, a car bomb exploded outside the French embassy in the capital, Tripoli, wounding two French guards and several residents
• In September 2012, the US consulate in Benghazi was attacked by armed men, leading to the killing of ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American officials

Earlier this month, the UK said it had withdrawn some of its embassy staff in Libya in response to what London described as "ongoing political uncertainty".