Turkish authorities scrambled Monday to identify a child suicide bomber acting on the orders of Islamic State jihadists who killed 54 people including several children at a Kurdish wedding close to the Syrian border.
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In attacks last week, 11 people were killed and hundreds injured in three bombings targeting security forces in eastern Turkey.
“Daesh should be completely cleansed from our borders and we are ready to do what it takes for that”, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu said at a news conference in the Turkish city of Ankara.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but officials have said it appeared to be the work of the Islamic State group, accusing it of trying to destabilize the country by exploiting ethnic and religious tensions.
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday it was carried out by a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14, adding that initial evidence pointed to Islamic State.
It added that the bombing, which it said had killed many children and women, resembled other suspected ISIS attacks on the party in Turkey, such as in Suruc in July 2015 and in Ankara in October.
“ISIS martyred our. citizens. The outcome of these attacks is that we understand that the only way to prevent these massacres is social peace”, protester, Ridvan Ozturk said.
Merkel said Sunday it was with her “deepest sorrow” that she learned of the attack. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the “barbaric” attack in Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, on Saturday appeared to be a suicide bombing.
The bride and groom – Besna and Nurettin Akdogan – were rushed to hospital but were not seriously wounded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences in a telegram to Turkey’s president following the attack on a Kurdish wedding party, which he says shows the global community must work together in fighting terrorism.
It said in a statement that it was “quite significant” that the attack, which it also blamed on IS, came hours after the Kurdistan Communities Union, a militant organization that includes the PKK, announced plans to try to negotiate to end a three-decade conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish government. He said the attack was most likely carried out by a local IS cell, who would have knowledge that the wedding was a Kurdish one. He continued: “All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the (Gulen movement) are targeting Turkey”.
Authorities found remnants of an explosive vest at the scene, and officials said they are not clear whether it was detonated remotely or by the bomber. He lost five young cousins in the attack.
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“It appears to be an act to punish the PYD”, Ozcan said, referring to a Syrian Kurdish group whose militia is fighting IS. “Just a regular wedding party”, Hamdullah Ceyhan told the state-run Anadolu Agency. Twenty-two of the 54 people killed in the suicide bombing have been confirmed by government officials to be under the age of 14.
