At least 30 people were killed when a suspected suicide bomber detonated his explosives among people dancing on the street at a wedding party in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep on Saturday, security and hospital sources said.
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According to reports, the attack has been possibly carried out by either Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.
Turkey has seen a wave of attacks this year which have been claimed by Kurdish militants and IS (Daesh).
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. Suicide bombers also killed at least 95 people in October previous year when they attacked a rally of pro-Kurdish and labour activists outside Ankara’s main train station.
People carry dead bodies into ambulances after an explosion in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey, early Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016.
At least 30 people have been killed and dozens have been wounded.
HDP is accused of having ties with the PKK terror organization, which is in fierce clashes with Daesh in northern Syria and northern Iraq through its Syrian offshoot PYD and its armed wing YPG.
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“It is barbaric to attack a wedding”, he told Turkish media outlets. The AP reported that the police in the city of Gaziantep sealed off the site of the attack with forensic teams moving in to collect evidence.
“The celebrations were coming to an end and there was a big explosion among people dancing”, said 25-year-old Veli Can.
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Deputies of the province departed for Gaziantep after the blast, while Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım instructed several ministers to head to Gaziantep.
