Cardinal skipping BC ceremony over abortion issue

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley said Friday that he won't attend Boston College's graduation because the Jesuit school's commencement speaker, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, supports legislation to permit abortion.

The bill allows abortion if a doctor authorizes it to save a women's life. Opponents say the bill would lead to widespread abortion by also allowing it if a woman threatens suicide.

In a statement Friday, O'Malley said abortion is "a crime against humanity" and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked Catholic institutions not to honor officials who promote it. Kenny is set to receive an honorary degree from BC at the May 20 commencement.

O'Malley said that since Boston College hasn't withdrawn its invitation, and Kenny hasn't declined it, "I shall not attend the graduation."

"It is my ardent hope that Boston College will work to redress the confusion, disappointment and harm caused by not adhering to the bishops' directives," he said.

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said the school respects O'Malley and regrets he won't attend graduation. "However, we look forward to our commencement and to Prime Minister Kenny's remarks," he said in a statement.

Dunn said Kenny was invited to BC because of his country's historically close relationship with the college and that the school "supports the church's commitment to the life of the unborn."

Kenny has said the bill affirms, rather than weakens, Ireland's general prohibition against abortion.

"Our aim is to protect the lives of women and their unborn babies by clarifying the circumstances in which doctors can intervene where a woman's life is at risk," he said in a May 1 speech.

An email requesting comment was sent to Kenny's office in Dublin on Friday and a voicemail requesting comment was left with an Irish Consulate-General in the U.S. Neither was immediately returned.

Ireland has the toughest abortion restrictions in Europe under an 1861 law that makes it a crime punishable by life in prison.

In 1992, its Supreme Court ruled abortion should be legal only if doctors determine it's needed to save the woman's life. But voters rejected two referendums, in 1992 and 2002, to allow abortion to stop a physical threat to a woman's life, not including suicide.

The latest bill is being debated following last year's death of Savita Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant when she was hospitalized at the start of a protracted miscarriage. She died of massive organ failure after doctors refused her request for an abortion.

The bill permits a single doctor to authorize an abortion if the woman's life is in immediate danger, requires two doctors' approval if a pregnancy poses a potentially lethal risk and mandates three doctors' approval if the woman is threatening suicide.

O'Malley said the Irish bishops have concluded the bill "represents a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law."

Last year, another Catholic college in Massachusetts was involved in a similar controversy after the Bishop of Worcester (Mass.) pressured Anna Maria College in Paxton to rescind an invitation to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy's widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, to deliver its commencement address. Bishop Robert McManus objected to Kennedy's public support for abortion rights and gay marriage.

Kennedy later accepted the Boston College School of Law's invitation to give the keynote address at commencement.

Libyan militiamen attack anti-Islamist protesters

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Scores of Libyan militiamen descended on an anti-Islamist rally in the nation's capital, Tripoli, kicking and beating protesters who had taken to the streets Friday as part of a call for mass demonstrations against the country's unruly militias and Muslim radicals.

Rallies also took place in two other Libyan cities, Benghazi and Tobruk, with hundreds of activists denouncing the armed thugs and decrying what they describe as political maneuverings by the nation's Muslim Brotherhood.

For nearly two weeks, Libya has been gripped by fear of new armed conflict after militias stormed and surrounded government buildings in Tripoli, blocking access to ministries in an attempt to push parliament to pass a contentious law that would prevent members of Moammar Gadhafi's regime from serving in senior government posts.

The turmoil appears to have sent jitters beyond Libya's borders, with the U.S. and Britain expressing concern over the prospects of continuous unrest in the North African country.

Libyan lawmakers approved the bill during the weekend, with guns still drawn on the streets, and the militias seemed to be gradually lifting their siege in the capital. But witnesses said they remained hunkered down inside the Foreign and Justice Ministry, paralyzing the institutions and preventing employees from coming to work.

Their show of force has left many Libyans fearful over the country's rocky transition to democracy.

In Tripoli, the day started peacefully, with activists marching in the streets with placards reading: "Law under the guns; constitution under fire" — a reference both to the recent siege and Libya's new constitution, which is to be drafted next year.

Others waved signs reading, "No to Moq Moq" — a term used by many for the militias but also a play on words since Moq is Arabic for "the foolish ones."

As the rally marched by the two ministry buildings, the militiamen descended and started hitting the protesters.

"They beat us up, women fled and a number of young men were seized and taken away," said Abdel-Moaz Banoun, one of the protesters. "We have no clue who took them or where they are now."

Banoun told The Associated Press a Foreign Ministry official was among those seized.

Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani, who had joined the protest, told Libya's Al-Ahrar TV network that the militiamen threatened him. "They told me I will be responsible for the bloodshed," he said.

The protesters then dispersed but said they will march again on Sunday.

The other two rallies Friday in Libya passed without violence. In the eastern city of Benghazi — the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that evolved into an eight-month-long civil war and ended with the ouster and killing of Gadhafi — hundreds protested against the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islamist group is charged with engineering the new law, set to take effect in early June. The legislation could remove a whole class of post-Gadhafi officials — including the head of the current parliament, Mohammed al-Megarif.

While the law might also affect Brotherhood members and other ultraconservative Islamists, it would get rid of Brotherhood's top foe, Mahmoud Jibril, a liberal-leaning war-time prime minister and who enjoys wide popularity in the country.

Jibril was a top aide to Seif-Islam, one of Gadhafi's sons and heir apparent, before he defected to the rebels. His coalition, The National Forces Alliance, won the biggest number of parliament seats allocated for political groupings in the July parliament elections.

"No to Brotherhoodization of the state," read a banner held by a Benghazi protester. The term is used to express fear of the radical group installing its loyalists in government posts. Other protesters hanged an effigy of the ruler of Qatar, the country Libyans see as a key Brotherhood backer.

"From the dictatorship of Gadhafi to the dictatorship of the Muslim Brotherhood," another sign read.The Brotherhood came second in the July elections, after Jibril's alliance, but rivals accuse the group of wielding significant power and getting funding from abroad.

A similar protest took place in the eastern city of Tobruk, where advocates for a semi-autonomous eastern region are active.

After the fall of Gadhafi, Libya was left without a strong police force or unified military, and the new authorities had no option but to depend on former rebels and mushrooming number of militias to maintain law and order. However, the militias soon became a source of trouble and at the same time, the security deteriorated.

In Benghazi, series of assassinations and bombings of police stations have prompted diplomatic missions to leave over the past year. On Sept. 11, Islamic militants attacked the U.S mission there, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

On Friday, two bombs exploded outside police stations in different districts of Benghazi. No injuries were reported, but the state news agency said buildings and vehicles were damaged.

Last month, a car bomb hit the French Embassy in Tripoli, wounding three people and partially setting the building on fire. It was the worst attack on a diplomatic mission in Libya since Steven's slaying.

No group has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.

On Friday, an American military official said U.S. forces in Europe are on a heightened state of alert in response to a deteriorating security situation in the Libyan capital. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, spoke on condition of anonymity.

The alert order came a day after the State Department said it was advising U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Tripoli and all travel to Benghazi and other locations in Libya. It cited "ongoing instability and violence" and said the State Department's ability to provide consular services to U.S. citizens there was "extremely limited."

Meanwhile, Britain's Foreign Office says it temporarily withdrew some staff from its embassy in Tripoli in light of the recent political unrest.

___

40 years on, fleeing Vietnamese take to seas again

In this photo taken on April 14, 2013, Australian Customs officials search Vietnamese asylum seekers and their belongings soon after their arrival on Christmas Island, Australia. Nearly 40 years after hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled the country's Communist regime by boat, a growing number are taking to the water again. The latest boat carrying Vietnamese cruised into Australia's Christmas Island one morning last month, according to witnesses on the shore. (AP Photo) less

In this photo taken on April 14, 2013, a fishing boat carrying Vietnamese asylum seekers nears the shore of Australia's Christmas Island. Nearly 40 years after hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled the country's Communist regime by boat, a growing number are taking to the water again. The latest boat carrying Vietnamese cruised into Australia's Christmas Island one morning last month, according to witnesses on the shore. (AP Photo)

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Nearly 40 years after hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled the country's Communist regime by boat, a growing number are taking to the water again.

This year alone, 460 Vietnamese men, women and children have arrived on Australian shores — more than in the last five years combined. The unexpected spike is drawing fresh scrutiny of Hanoi's deteriorating human rights record, though Vietnam's flagging economy may also explain why migrants have been making the risky journey.

The latest boat carrying Vietnamese cruised into Australia's Christmas Island one morning last month, according to witnesses on the shore. The hull number showed it was a fishing vessel registered in Kien Giang, a southern Vietnamese province more than 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) from Christmas Island, which is much closer to Indonesia than it is to the Australian mainland.

Many Vietnamese who have reached Australia have been held incommunicado. The government doesn't release details about their religion and place of origin within Vietnam, both of which might hint at why they are seeking asylum.

Truong Chi Liem, reached via telephone from the Villawood Immigration Detention Center on the outskirts of Sydney, would not reveal details of his case but said, "I'd rather die here than be forced back to Vietnam."

The 23-year-old left Vietnam five years ago but who was detained en route in Indonesia for 18 months. He said Vietnamese simply looking to make more money shouldn't attempt a boat journey, but he also said, "If a person is living a miserable life, faced with repression and threats by the authorities there, then they should leave."

Some Vietnamese reach Australia via Indonesia, following the same route that the far more numerous asylum seekers from South Asia and the Middle East have blazed for more than a decade. Others set sail from Vietnam itself, a far longer and riskier journey.

In separate statements, the Australian and Vietnamese governments said the overwhelming majority or all of the arrivals were economic migrants, which would make them ineligible for asylum. Several Vietnamese community activists in Australia and lawyers who have represented asylum-seekers from the Southeast Asian country dispute that categorization or raised questions over the screening process Australia uses.

Those activists and lawyers also raise concerns about what will become of the migrants, saying that while Australia doesn't want to keep them, Vietnam doesn't want to take them back.

"Vietnam's attitude is that, 'These are people who will never be our friends, so why should we take them back?'" said Trung Doan, former head of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, a diaspora group.

In a statement, the Vietnamese government said it is "willing to cooperate with concerned parties to resolve this issue."

Asylum-seekers are a sensitive issue for Vietnam because their journeys undermine Communist Party propaganda that all is well in the country. They also hark back to the mass exodus after the Vietnam War.

Those Vietnamese who fled persecution by the victorious Communists in the immediate aftermath of the war triggered a global humanitarian crisis. Their plight resonated with the U.S. and its allies, and they were initially given immediate refugee status. In 1989, they had to prove their cases pursuant to the Geneva Convention, and acceptance rates quickly fell as a result. Nearly 900,000 Vietnamese did make it out by boat or over land, with the United States, Canada and Australia accepting most of them.

Vietnam remains a one-party state that arrests and hands long prison sentences to government critics, including bloggers and Roman Catholic activists. Human Rights Watch alleges torture in custody is routine. Christian groups have reported on alleged suspicious deaths in custody.

Most independent human rights activists say that repression has increased over the last two years.

Little is known about the background of those that have made the trip this year.

At least some of those who have arrived in the recent past are Roman Catholics who took part in a protest near a cathedral in the capital, Hanoi, said Kaye Bernard, a refugee advocate who has met some arrivals from Hanoi. Others are said to be involved in land disputes with local authorities.

"I don't think you can generalize but there has been an increase in repression in Vietnam. The sentences are getting longer. There is more fear," said Hoi Trinh, an Australia lawyer of Vietnamese descent who heads an organization helping asylum-seekers. "If more people are more fearful, then more of them will flee."

Peter Hansen, a lawyer and Vietnam expert who advised in some appeals involving recent arrivals from Vietnam, said the small number of cases he was aware of didn't involve intellectuals, bloggers or political dissidents most targeted in the current campaign by the government. But he cautioned that current Australian guidelines on the validity of claims from Vietnam didn't take into account the reality of persecution against certain religious sects in specific parts of the country.

"I can't account for why there has been a significant increase this year, but I can tell you now that I'm absolutely certain that there is a proportion of that number who weren't motivated to come here for economic reasons," he said.

Neighboring countries like Cambodia have continued to receive small numbers of asylum-seekers since the 1990s. Many thousands of Vietnamese have left the country to work in Asia or beyond, either illegally or as exported labor. Many don't return after their contracts end.

Australia appears to be the destination of choice, but the country is already facing a record number of asylum-seekers this year. Under public pressure, the Australian government has made it more difficult for people to be considered for asylum and often detained migrants on isolated islands away from lawyers. Critics say Canberra is avoiding its responsibilities under the U.N. refugee conventions by taking these measures.

Along with other nationalities, the Vietnamese are kept in detention, either on the mainland, on Christmas Island or on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus. Families and unaccompanied children are kept in lower-security detention facilities. Four Vietnamese, including a teenager, escaped from one such center in Darwin earlier this week, according to authorities.

Australia's desire to get tough on Vietnamese arrivals appears to have run into a problem: The government in Hanoi has shown no interest in accepting the asylum-seekers, according to activists and lawyers.

Australia can't simply put the migrants on the first plane to Hanoi. They need to have travel documents issued to them by Vietnamese authorities, who must first confirm their identities.

Of the 101 Vietnamese who arrived in Australia in 2011, only six have so far been returned to Vietnam. Very few, if any, have been granted asylum, according to lawyers and activists.

_____

Follow Chris Brummitt on Twitter at twitter.com/cjbrummitt

Boston bombing suspect buried in Virginia cemetery

The alleged burial site of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is covered in Doswell, Va. on May 10, 2013. Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of Tamerlan Tsarnaev said Tsarnaev was buried in the cemetery in Doswell, near Richmond. Tsarnaev was killed April 19 in a getaway attempt after a gunbattle with police. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured later and remains in custody. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Zachary Reid).

ADDS THAT TSARNAEV'S GRAVE IS ONE OF TWO NEWLY DUG GRAVES AT THE CEMETERY - Flowers are placed on one of two newly dug graves at the Doswell, Va. cemetery where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is buried, Friday, May 10, 2013. Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, said his nephew was buried in the cemetery north of Richmond. Tsarnaev was killed April 19 in a getaway attempt after a gun battle with police. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured later and remains in custody. It is unknown which grave contains Tsarnaev's remains. (AP Photo/Luis Alvarez)

DOSWELL, Va. (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspectTamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in a cemetery in centralVirginia, infuriating some members of the area's Islamic community who say they weren't consulted and flooring at least one neighbor who said she didn't even know she lived near a burial ground.

The secret interment this week at a small Islamic cemetery ended a frustrating search for a community willing to take the body, which had been kept at a funeral parlor in Worcester, Mass., as cemeteries in Massachusetts and several other states refused to accept the remains.

Tsarnaev, 26, was killed April 19 in a getaway attempt after a gun battle with police. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured later and remains in custody. They are accused of setting off two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs April 15 near the marathon finish line, an attack that killed three people and injured more than 260.

Their uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., took responsibility for the body after Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell, said she wanted it released to her in-laws. He said his nephew was buried in a cemetery in Doswell with the help of a faith coalition.

"The body's buried," said the uncle. "That's it."

Tsarni has denounced the acts his nephews are accused of committing and has said they brought shame to the family and the entire Chechen community.

Dozens of communities approached about hosting a gravesite had refused, many with concerns about gravesite vandalism and backlash from the public. With costs to protect the funeral home mounting, Worcester police earlier appealed for help finding a place to bury Tsarnaev.

They had announced Thursday that "as a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased."

Martha Mullen, of Richmond, Va., told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview that she offered to help after seeing news reports about towns and cemeteries refusing to allow burial. She said she is not the only person who helped with arrangements.

"It was an interfaith effort," she said. "Basically because Jesus says love your enemies."

The cemetery is hidden among the rural woods and hills of Caroline County, about 30 miles north of Richmond, and contains only 47 graves in all. All were covered with reddish-brown mulch except for two that appeared newly dug, neither with any kind of marking and one of them presumably Tsarnaev's.

On one of the new graves lay a vase full of roses at one end and a single red rose at the other end. The other new grave was bare.

A news helicopter hovered overhead, along with a swarm of television news trucks in what is ordinarily a tranquil meadow in a large, wooded section within sight of a roller coaster at the Kings Dominion amusement park along Interstate 95.

It was not immediately clear who owned the cemetery in Doswell. The Virginia Cemetery Board, a government agency, regulates only for-profit cemeteries. Cemeteries owned by churches and government entities are not required to have a state-issued license.

Imam Ammar Amonette, of the Islamic Center of Virginia, said that his group was never consulted and that Mullen reached out to a separate group, the Islamic Society of Greater Richmond.

"The whole Muslim community here is furious. Frankly, we are furious that we were never given any information. It was all done secretly behind our backs," Amonette said, adding that it "makes no sense whatsoever" that Tsarnaev's body was buried in Virginia.

"Now everybody who's buried in that cemetery, their loved ones are going to have to go to that place," he said.

The Islamic Society of Greater Richmond didn't immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation that it was involved in the burial.

At least one neighbor was unaware the cemetery was even there.

Jaquese Goodall, who lives less than a quarter-mile away down a winding country lane, said a rope usually blocks the gravel road leading to the cemetery. She had no idea when the body was buried and never saw hearses enter or leave the property.

"If they didn't want him in Boston, why did they bring him all the way down here against our wishes?" said Goodall, 21, who has lived in the area all her life.

"I am worried because his people may come down here to visit and there will be a whole lot of problems from him being here," said Goodall, a Baptist.

Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa was concerned, too, that the grave site could become a target for vandals and a shrine for those who sympathize with Tsarnaev, forcing his lean department — rural Caroline County's primary law-enforcement agency — to use money and officers it doesn't have guarding the secluded, private cemetery.

"I know of no Virginia law enforcement agency that was notified. No one in county or state government was aware of this," Lippa said.

Desecrating the grave, he said, is a felony. Merely trespassing onto the private property of the cemetery is a misdemeanor, he said.

Friday evening, two sheriff's deputies in a truck were parked near the gravesite. It was roped off by a yellow chain with a no-trespassing notice hanging from it.

Floyd Thomas, the chairman of Caroline County's board of supervisors, considered Tsarnaev's possible burial a black mark against the county, where President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was cornered and killed 148 years ago.

"This was a horrific act, a terrible crime," Thomas, speaking at a news conference, said of the Boston Marathon bombing. He said he didn't want Caroline to be remembered as the final resting place of one of the bombing's alleged perpetrators.

Local officials asked Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to look into whether any laws were broken in carrying out the hushed burial. If not, there's likely nothing they can do.

"If there were, I think we'd try to undo what's been done," Thomas said.

Lane Kneedler, an attorney who represented the Virginia Cemetery Association when the law was drafted to regulate for-profit cemeteries in the late 1990s, said private burial grounds only have to meet local zoning requirements. Mike Finchum, planning director for Caroline County, did not immediately return a voice mail message.

Kneelder said that once a cemetery is approved and operating, only its owner controls who is buried there. The Virginia Department of Health has no say on cemetery operations, spokeswoman Maribeth Brewster said.

Tsarnaev's death certificate was released Friday. It shows he was shot by police in the firefight the night of April 18, run over and dragged by a vehicle, and died a few hours later on April 19. Authorities have said his brother ran over him in his getaway attempt.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital in Boston, where he could have been buried under state law, because the city was his place of death. But Boston officials said they wouldn't take the body because Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen from Russia, lived in Cambridge, and Cambridge also refused.

His mother also said Russia refused to allow his body into the country so she could bury him in her native Dagestan, but Russian authorities would not comment on that contention.

Peter Stefan, the director of the Worcester funeral home where Tsarnaev's body was held, said the body was moved out of his home Wednesday evening in a nondescript van to keep the transport to Virginia secret. He said it's unfortunate that the Virginia locality wasn't notified of the burial plans.

"What I really didn't care much for was the fact that the city or town wasn't notified." he said. He added, "Once the family takes over, it's their responsibility. But there's a moral issue here."

He acknowledged that the Virginia locality might have said "no." He had called scores of towns in nearly every state trying to get one to accept Tsarnaev's body.

"Nobody in the entire country wanted this guy," he said. "Absolutely nobody."

___

Lavoie and Associated Press writer Jay Lindsay reported from Boston. AP writers Larry O'Dell in Richmond and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

40 dead in Turkey car bombings near Syria

People gather at the site of a blast which killed and injured a number of people in Reyhanli, near Turkey's border with Syria, Saturday, May 11, 2013. Two car bombs exploded in a Turkish town near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing at least four people and injuring 22 others, officials and media reports said. (AP Photo/IHA) TURKEY OUT

A woman cries at the scene of one of the explosion sites, after several explosions killed at least 18 people and injured dozens in Reyhanli, near Turkey's border with Syria, Saturday, May 11, 2013, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said.(AP Photo/Anadolu Agency, Cem Genco) TURKEY OUT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Two car bombs exploded in a Turkish town near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing around 40 people and wounding 100 others, officials said. Turkey's deputy prime minister said Syria's intelligence and military were "the usual suspects" behind the bombings, but said authorities were still investigating the attacks.

The blasts, which were 15 minutes apart, raised fears that Syria's brutal civil war violence was crossing into its neighbor.

One of the car bombs exploded outside the city hall while the other went off outside the post office in the town of Reyhanli, a main hub for Syrian refugees and rebel activity in Turkey's Hatay province, just across the border. Images showed people frantically carrying victims through the rubble-strewn streets to safety.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said about 40 people were killed and 100 others wounded in the blasts and linked them to Syria. There was no immediate information on the identities or nationalities of the victims.

"We know that the Syrian refugees have become a target of the Syrian regime," he said. "Reyhanli was not chosen by coincidence."

"Our thoughts are that their mukhabarat (Syrian intelligence agency) and armed organizations are the usual suspects in planning and the carrying out of such devilish plans," he said.

Arinc said Turkey would "do whatever is necessary" if proven that Syria is behind the attack.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier also raised the possibility that the bombings may be related to Turkey's peace talks with Kurdish rebels meant to end a nearly 30-year-old conflict.

Syrian mortar rounds have fallen over the border before, but if the explosion turns out to be linked to Syria it would be by far the biggest death toll in Turkey related to its neighbor's civil war.

Syria shares a more than 500-mile border with Turkey, which has been a crucial supporter of the Syrian rebel cause. Ankara has allowed its territory to be used as a logistics base and staging center for Syrian insurgents.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed from Berlin that Turkey would act.

"Those who for whatever reason attempt to bring the external chaos into our country will get a response," he said.

The main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, condemned the "terrorist attacks" in Reyhanli, saying it stands together with the "Turkish government and the friendly Turkish people."

The coalition sees "these heinous terrorist acts as an attempt to take revenge on the Turkish people and punish them for their honorable support for the Syrian people," it said.

Reyhanli is a center for aid and alleged weapon trafficking between Turkey and Syria, as well as for Syrian rebel activity. Apart from refugees living in camps, many Syrians escaping the civil war have also rented houses in the town.

The explosions came days before Erdogan is scheduled to travel to the U.S. for talks, which are expected to be dominated by the situation in Syria.

"This ... will increase the pressure on the U.S. president next week to do something to show support to Turkey when Erdogan visits him in Washington," said Soner Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey at the Washington Institute. "Washington will be forced to take a more pro-active position on Syria, at least in rhetoric, whether or not there is appetite for such a position here."

Abdullah, a Reyhanli resident, told The Associated Press he heard two strong explosions at about 1 p.m. "The bombs were very powerful," he said by telephone.

The frontier area has seen heavy fighting between rebels and the Syrian regime. In February, a car bomb exploded at a border crossing with Turkey in Syria's Idlib province, killing 14. Turkey's interior minister has blamed Syria's intelligence agencies and its army for involvement.

Four Syrians and a Turk are in custody in connection with the Feb. 11 attack at the Bab al-Hawa frontier post. No one has claimed responsibility, but a Syrian opposition faction accused the Syrian government of the bombing, saying it narrowly missed 13 leaders of the group.

In that bombing, most of the victims were Syrians who had been waiting in an area straddling the frontier for processing to enter Turkey.

Tensions flared between the Syrian regime and Turkey after shells fired from Syria landed on the Turkish side, prompting Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. to send two batteries of Patriot air defense missiles each to protect their NATO ally.

___

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.