ISTANBUL — The Turkish government blamed a Kurdish rebel group Wednesday for a bomb attack that killed nine people near the Syrian border, amid concerns by ruling party officials that the militants may be developing links with the regime in Syria and its civil war could have a destabilizing effect on Turkey.
The explosion in the city of Gaziantep on Monday followed an escalation in fighting between Turkish forces and the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which had close ties in the 1990s to thenPresident Hafez Assad of Syria, father of current leader Bashar Assad. Turkey, which seeks the ouster of Assad, is sheltering about 70,000 Syrian refugees and has urged the United Nations to set up camps inside Syria for the displaced, a step that would require the intervention of a security force and pose a direct challenge to Syrian authorities.
Some commentators, however, have warned that Turkey misjudged the resilience of the Assad regime and is being pulled into a wider conflict with implications for the most vexing issue on its domestic agenda — a resolution of the state’s conflict with Turkish Kurds who want self-rule in the mostly Kurdish southeast part of the country. The PKK has denied any role in the Gaziantep blast, which included several children among the dead, but Turkish officials, including President Abdullah Gul, cited the group’s hand in past attacks as a sign that it was the perpetrator.
‘‘The incident is totally the work of the PKK,’’ said Gaziantep governor Erdal Ata. ‘‘Certain information has been attained. It may not be right to share it now, but evidence is being assessed.’’