Hurriyet said the type of bomb used – stuffed with 2-3 centimetre shards of iron and detonated with C-4 explosives – was similar to that used in previous suicide bombings against pro-Kurdish gatherings blamed on IS in the border town of Suruc and at Ankara train station a year ago.
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There were no further details on the bomber, but Mr Erdogan said ISIS had been trying to “position itself” in Gaziantep, which lies just 60km north of Syria and is a major hub for refugees from the more than five-year-long civil war.
Monday, a government official said at least 22 of the victims were under the age of 14.
Cavusoglu said Turkey had become the “number one target” for the militants because of its work to stop recruits travelling through Turkey across its over 800 km (500 mile) border into Syria to join the Sunni hardline group. The Ankara bombing was the deadliest of its kind in Turkey, killing more than 100 people.
To that end, Reuters reports Turkey is sponsoring a rebel group inside Syria that will take the key town of Jarablus from ISIS before the Kurds can get there. Erdogan said Sunday it was carried out by a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14, adding that initial evidence pointed to the Islamic State group.
Around 300 people have died in the violence but few incidents have garnered a response on the scale seen after Isis’ attacks in Paris and Brussels.
“Our border must be completely cleansed from Daesh”, he said in televised remarks, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group.
The suicide bombing happened at a time of ongoing tensions between the government and members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that is banned in Turkey.
The UN Security Council on Monday condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” at a wedding ceremony in Turkey.
“They turned our best day to hell”. We have no relatives left. “Nothing but body parts”, the groom’s brother said. One of them exploded in the garden of a house, but no one was hurt.
“From now on, find a solution”, added the bride, Besna Akdogan, sobbing. When she looked down after the explosion, everyone below was hurt or dead, she said.
“I can’t forget that moment”, Saglam said.
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“I can not recount what I saw”, said Ilter, who lost five young cousins.
