At least 22 people were killed and dozens more wounded in an attack on a wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border, the local governor’s office has said.
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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.
“No matter what this treacherous terror organization is called, we as the people, the state, and the government will pursue our determined struggle against it”, he said.
“We condemn the traitors who organised and carried out this attack”, it added.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey has suffered a string of attacks this year by Islamic State fighters, who pass relatively easily across the border from neighbouring Syria, and by Kurdish militants seeking autonomy or independence.
The Hurriyet daily said the bride and groom – Besna and Nurettin Akdogan – were in hospital but their lives were not in danger. It was not immediately clear who was responsible but a Gaziantep MP for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Samil Tayyar, said, “Initial information suggests it is Daesh (IS) who did this”.
Dogan news agency said the suicide bomber had mixed in with the guests before detonating the charge.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke against the attack, which turned “a wedding party into a place of mourning”.
“We were sitting on chairs, having a chat with one of our neighbours”. I remember being underneath.
“The bride and groom’s happiest day was poisoned”.
The city, which lies about 40 miles from the Syrian border, was already on edge due to activities taking place on the other side of the border, the BBC reported.
But as well as refugees and opposition activists, there have always been fears it was home to a significant militant presence.
Photos taken after the explosion showed several bodies covered with white sheets as a crowd gathered nearby.
As has been the case in previous attacks, Turkey’s broadcasting regulator RTUK banned broadcast of footage from the scene of the attack in Gaziantep.
Twelve people were killed on Thursday in a spate of bombings against Turkish security forces blamed on the PKK who appear to have ramped up their campaign of attacks in the aftermath of the failed coup.
Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers killed 44 people at Istanbul’s main airport in July, the deadliest in a string of attacks in Turkey this year.
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The blast in Gaziantep came just hours after Yildirim said Ankara would in the next six months play a “more active” role in efforts to solve the Syrian civil war. A Kurdish rebel group claimed responsibility for that attack.
