UN Security Council
UN Security CouncilReuters

The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the suicide attack in Turkey that killed 32 people and has been blamed on the Islamic State (ISIS) group, AFP reports.

In a unanimous statement, the 15-member council "underlined the need to bring perpetrators of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice."

It also stressed the need to combat "by all means" the threat to international peace and security caused by acts of terrorism, calling them "criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," according to AFP.

In Monday’s attack, a suicide bomber identified as a 20-year-old Turk blew himself up in the small town of Suruc across the border with Syria from the embattled town of Kobane, a battleground between Kurds and IS fighters.

The explosion killed 32 people and wounded about a hundred others, most of them young Kurds who had gone to Suruc to prepare for an humanitarian aid mission in Kobane.

Turkish media said the attacker was a university student who had become involved with ISIS two months earlier.

It was the deadliest attack in Turkey since 2013, and if ISIS involvement is confirmed, would be the group's first suicide attack on Turkish soil.

The attack prompted a reprisal by a Kurdish group, killing two Turkish police.

Turkish authorities have cracked down on ISIS networks, arresting dozens of suspects in recent weeks, and the country beefed up its border with Syria with tanks and anti-aircraft missiles as well as additional troops.

The crackdown began after Turkey came under international pressure to tighten the security of its volatile 566 mile border with Syria to cut the flow of jihadists who try to join the ranks of ISIS.

Ankara was especially criticized over its failure to stop three British teenage girls who crossed the Turkey-Syria border to join ISIS in February. The three teens, Shamima Begum, 15, Amira Abase, also 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, are now feared to have reached the conflict zone and are believed to be staying at a house in the city of Raqqa, a stronghold of ISIS.

Turkey fiercely rejects the accusations, saying it is making every effort to secure a long border. In turn, it has accused the West of not playing its part to shoulder the burden of hosting 1.8 million refugees from Syria.