A Syrian minibus exploded at a crossing on Turkey’s border with Syria near the Turkish town of Reyhanli yesterday, killing 13 people including Turkish citizens and wounding dozens more, Turkish officials said.

Witnesses said they saw the vehicle drive up to the Cilvegozu border post, one of the main crossing points for Syrian refugees into Turkey, shortly before the explosion. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the Government was investigating all possible causes for the blast, including a suicide attack, but it was wrong to jump to hasty conclusions.

“The information that we have for now is that a minibus with Syrian number plates coming from the other side exploded. It was a powerful explosion,” Arinc, who is also the Government spokesman, told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting.

“But whether this was a vehicle laden with explosives or another type of explosion, I think, at the latest, will become clear tomorrow,” he said.

Turkey’s Interior, Justice and Customs Ministers were due to fly to the area to be briefed on the incident.

Arinc said the death toll from the blast had risen to 13, including three Turks and nine Syrians. At least 28 people were wounded, 13 of them seriously.

The minibus exploded as it was driving through a stretch of no-man’s land between the two countries only metres away from the Turkish border gate, where scores of Syrian civilians and Turkish humanitarian workers were congregated, Arinc said.

Television footage and photographs showed severe damage to a series of vehicles at the border, where a gate was blown open and part of the roof collapsed.

Turkey is a staunch supporter of the near two-year uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has harboured both Syrian refugees and rebels.

Five Turkish civilians were killed in October when a mortar shell hit a house in the Turkish border town of Akcakale.