ISIS is blamed for a suicide bombing in Turkey. New York Times.

Turkish crime scene investigators examining the scene of the bombing. New York Times/European Pressphoto Agency. 

A suicide bombing in the town of Surac, Turkey, killed at least 30 people and wounded 100 more and is being blamed on ISIS. New York Times. Turkey's Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, claimed that ISIS was behind the attack. If true, it will be the first time ISIS has attacked Turkey. The bombing comes after a crackdown on Islamic groups in Turkey and may be in retaliation for a string of arrests and the censorship of Jihaidi websites. Turkey is also considering taking a more active role in the war against ISIS, which could also cause retaliation. The bombing occurred at a rally between Kurds and Turks discussing the recent events at the Syrian border town of Kobani. 

My Comment:

I've checked a bit more into this and it sounds like the victims of the attack were far leftist socialists who were going to Kobani to help fix the city. And it also sounds like the suicide bomber was a woman or a man dressed as a woman. ISIS has also taken credit for the attack, so it seems like they are the ones that were responsible. 

This is a major escalation in the war against ISIS. Until now Turkey has been largely unharmed by the war in Syria. They had a major influx of refugees, of course, but until now almost all the killing has been across the border. 

I'm not sure this was a very good idea for ISIS. Whatever gains they get from killing the people that were trying to help Kobani, will be offset by the Turkish response to this. There is a real chance that Turkey could join U.S. airstrikes. If this attack is followed up by more attacks, they could even send in ground troops. There is also a very good chance the pipeline of recruits and supplies, that ISIS depends on, could be cut off. 

Until now Turkey has been a lukewarm partner in the war against ISIS. They have largely ignored the conflict against ISIS and have spent much more time supporting the rebels fighting against the Assad government of Turkey. When ISIS laid siege to Kobani, it took a very long time for Turkey to allow Iraqi Kurds to fight in the city. Turkey has always been more worried about the Kurds trying to gain independence then it has been for ISIS.

It also seems like ISIS is greatly expanding their ability to strike in other countries. ISIS has also struck in other countries where they had a small or non-existent presence in recently, such as in Kuwait and Afghanistan. It now seems that they are expanding throughout the middle east.  I am guessing that ISIS has a few cells operating in Turkey. They would have to, just for the logistical reasons. After all, ISIS recruits and supplies often cross into Syria via the Turkish border. But now it seems like they are going to have active terrorist operations. Given how close ISIS's base of operations is to Turkey it is surprising that it took this long for them to set something up.  

The question now is if this was just a one-off attack or the start of a new campaign in Turkey for ISIS militants. I'm guessing that this is just the beginning. Turkey is going to be brought into the Syrian civil war because of this. Perhaps now they will focus more on ISIS and less on the Assad regime.