Kurd militants claim murder of Turkish police to avenge 'IS bombing'

Ankara

Kurdish militants on Wednesday claimed the murder of two Turkish police officers as revenge for a suicide bombing, blamed on Islamic State jihadists, that killed 32 activists near the Syrian border. 

The attack by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the town of Ceylanpinar intensified fears that the fighting raging in Syria between Kurds and IS extremists is spilling over onto Turkish territory.

In Ankara, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu convened his cabinet to discuss an action plan for strengthening security on Turkey's border with Syria after Monday's devastating attack in the town of Suruc. 

Officials said the suicide bomber had been identified as a 20-year-old Turkish student who had been in contact with IS jihadists for several months.

The attack has fanned fears that IS, which has established a self-declared "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq, are extending their reach and prompted US President Barack Obama to discuss improving regional security with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

The authorities had earlier appeared at a loss to explain the deaths of the police officers, who were shot in the head at their shared home in an apartment block in southeastern town of Ceylanpinar near the border.