Twenty-two people were killed and 94 wounded when a suspected suicide bomber targeted a wedding celebration in the Turkish city of Gaziantep yesterday, adding to a surge in violence this week in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
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It happened in the city of Gaziantep where reportedly many university students live. Suicide bombers also killed at least 95 people in October previous year when they attacked a rally of pro-Kurdish and labour activists outside Ankara’s main train station.
Islamic State militants were believed to be behind the attack, Samil Tayyar, a member of parliament from ruling AK Party said on Twitter, while Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told broadcaster NTV the blast appeared to be the work of a suicide bomber.
A brief statement from the Gaziantep governor’s office said the bomb attack on the wedding in the Sahinbey district occurred at 10:50 p.m.
The death toll for an explosion at a wedding in Turkey has been revised to 30, with 94 injured, the region’s governor says. Video vision also shows emergency services rushing to the aid of the wounded.
Erdogan used a chance to reiterate that “there is no difference between Daesh [Islamic State], the likely perpetrator of the Gaziantep attack”, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the suspected mastermind of the failed military coup Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
“All terror groups, the PKK, (ISIS), the (Gulen movement) are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome”.
A major city lying just 60 kilometres north of the Syrian border, Gaziantep has become a hub for Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country. Police sealed off the area and forensic teams moved into the site.
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