Mangled corpses, anguished cries and plumes of black smoke. The scenes could have easily been from war torn Syria. But they were unfolding in the Turkish town of Reyhanli on the Syrian border after twin car bombs went off in the town center ripping into crowded streets and killing at least 46 people in the early afternoon of May 11. The attack in Reyhanli — home to thousands of Syrian refugees and a gathering point for rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad — has sharpened fears that the two-year conflict in Syria has moved to Turkey.

As the death toll climbed, Turkish leaders were quick to blame Assad. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the perpetrators had been identified as locals who were linked to an organization with ties to the Syrian regime and secret service.

(The organization Guler was referring to was most likely the DHKP-C, a left-wing terrorist faction that claimed responsibility for the Feb. 1 suicide bomb attack on the US embassy in Ankara.)  Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay, meanwhile, firmly dismissed speculation that Syrian rebels seeking to provoke Turkey into military action against Syria were responsible. “It is definite that the tragic incident has no connection with Syrian refugees or the opposition," Atalay said.

The big question is if and how Turkey will respond. The other is whether it can leverage the incident to persuade Washington to intervene. There is little indication that Ankara will go it alone. On the contrary, Turkey is presenting Sunday’s attack as a provocation and says it will not fall into this trap.  Speaking to the state run TRT news channel on Sunday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared that Turkey reserved the right to take “every kind of measure.”