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Erdogan: Wedding bomber was 12-14 years old

The attacker was between the ages of 12 and 14, the President was quoted as saying by the police by citing police sources.

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He said 69 people injured remained in hospital while 17 were critically injured.

At least 51 people were killed and dozens more injured when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Kurdish wedding celebration in southeastern Turkey late Saturday night.

Gaziantep, a city of 1.5 million people in south-central Turkey, is near the border with Syria, where the Islamic State holds territory.

Officials have said Saturday’s attack on an outdoor wedding party in the south east of the country, close to the Syrian border, appeared to be a suicide bombing.

French President Francois Hollande said in a statement that he “strongly condemns the despicable terrorist attack”.

He also repeated his assertion that initial information suggested the attack was perpetrated by the Islamic State group. The PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, has also been targeting police and military facilities in Turkey.

In the Vatican, Pope Francis led hundreds of people in silent prayer for the victims of the attack, concluding by asking “for the gift of peace for everyone”. The bride was not hurt, one local official said.

Condemnations have poured in from around the world after the likely Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide attack that claimed at least 51 lives and wounded 69 in Turkey’s southeastern province of Gaziantep on August 20.

The previous deadliest one was last October at a rally of pro-Kurdish and labor activists in Ankara where suicide bombers killed more than 100 people.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement early Sunday denouncing the “heinous” bombing and claimed that ISIS was “the most likely perpetrator of the Gaziantep attack”.

The attack comes as the country is still reeling from last month’s failed coup attempt, which the government has blamed on USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.

An MP from the ruling AK Party said that IS militants were believed to be behind the bombing. A fragile, two-and-a-half-year peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade-long conflict. Erdogan blames the attempt on Fetullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based cleric who has denied any involvement.

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Meanwhile, Erdogan continues his crack down on opponents with thousands more arrested after the government released nearly 40,000 people who were being held. France, Greece, Azerbaijan, Britain, Sweden, Qatar, Pakistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were among the countries that offered their condolences and condemned the attack.

People react after an explosion in Gaziantep southeastern Turkey early Sunday Aug. 21 2016. Gaziantep Province Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said the deadly blast during a wedding near the border with Syria was a terror attack