“We think he may have been trapped in the panic, since he was a skinny boy”.
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Other children were among the dead. The BBC reports that the bombing killed 51 and injured 69. He said the attacker was young, only aged between 12 and 14.
There were no further details on the bomber, but Erdogan said ISIS had been trying to “position itself” in Gaziantep, which lies just 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Syria and is a major hub for refugees from the more than 5-year civil war.
The initial findings of the governor and our police forces indicate the attack has been perpetrated by [ISIS].
“He again stresses the need to intensify regional and worldwide efforts to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism”, it added. Scores of people are being treated for injuries and 17 are listed in critical condition, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The bride and groom – a couple from the strongly Kurdish region of Siirt to the southeast – were rushed to hospital but not seriously wounded.
Last week, after Assad’s Air Force bombed Kurdish militia among whom were “embedded” US Special Forces operating extra-legally within Syria, Pentagon spokesmen warned that the US was prepared to attack anyone who threatened its troops, risking a direct clash with Russian, Iranian or Syrian forces.
Officials have found pieces of a detonated suicide vest at the scene, the agency reported. “Nothing but body parts”, Sukru Akdogan, the groom’s brother, told Anadolu. A blast occurred near a wedding hall here at 22:40 local time (1940 GMT) on Saturday.
Turkey’s president has blamed the Islamic State group for the bombing in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria.
“This was a wedding party”. The extremist group has a history of using children as weapons, sending them to their death strapped with explosives and putting them on front lines in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy since the 1980s.
“This may very well be a revenge attack for that”, Finkel said. The police found an Islamic State bomb-making facility in the city, which they said was used in an attack in Ankara a year ago that killed more than 100 people.
Turkey, which allows planes from the US-led anti-ISIS coalition to operate from its air base at Incirlik, has been in ISIS’ crosshairs, with the group blamed for a series of bomb attacks in the country throughout the year.
IS suicide bombers have carried out several attacks in Istanbul this year, while Kurdish militants have hit targets in both Ankara and Istanbul.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the Gaziantep blast.
“I can not recount what I saw”, said Ilter, who lost five young cousins.
Turkey has seen a spate of attacks in recent months and a failed military coup on July 15, which the government blames on Gulen’s movement.
“Those who can not overcome Turkey and try to provoke people by abusing ethnic and sectarian sensitiveness will not prevail”, Anadolu quoted Erdogan as saying.
Vice President Joe Biden plans to visit Ankara on Wednesday, Aug. 24, in an effort to “reaffirm our commitment to work together with Turkey, our valued NATO Ally and partner, to confront the scourge of terrorism”.
“This attack is not spontaneous”, said Firat Ibrahim, 31, who is from Syria but lives in Turkey. He said that numerous victims at least 51 people were killed and 69 more wounded, Erdogan said on Sunday were children.
“This is the time when Turkey should resolve to back the peace process”.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım regretting that “Again, innocent men, women, and children have fallen victim to cowardly and treacherous violence”.
