A suicide bomber attacked a Kurdish wedding party in Turkey near the country’s border with Syria on Saturday night local time, killing at least 51 people and wounding 69 others.
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Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the “barbaric” attack appeared to be a suicide bombing.
He said the aim of attacks like Gaziantep was to sow division between different groups in Turkey such as Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen and “spread incitement along ethnic and religious lines”. A prosecutor’s office said a destroyed suicide vest was found at the blast site.
Turkey has suffered a string of attacks by Islamic State and by Kurdish militants seeking autonomy or independence.
On Thursday, 12 people were killed in three bombings blamed on the PKK, who Mr Erdogan said had killed 70 members of the security forces in the last month alone. Gulen has denied the charge.
After twin suicide bombings targeting a pro-Kurdish peace rally in Ankara in October 2015 killed 103 people, IS had warned it would attack a Kurdish wedding, it added. The bride was not hurt, official said.
All through Saturday night, ambulances rushed the wounded to hospitals across Gaziantep, a major city with a large Kurdish population.
Mrs Merkel said it was with her “deepest sorrow” that she learned of the attack. Women in white and chequered scarves cried, sitting cross-legged and waiting outside the morgue for word on missing relatives.
Hurriyet said the type of bomb used – stuffed with scraps of metal – was similar to the explosives 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. “There was blood and body parts everywhere”, said one eyewitness, 25-year-old Veli Can.
Another witness, Ibrahim Ozdemir, said: “We want to end these massacres”. Almost 100 people, including many women and children, were wounded in the attack. “And we know very well from the Afghanistan experience to what extent attacks on weddings can disrupt order in a society”, he said. “It is even more painful when they mix religion with politics”, said Omer Emlik, who said he was an uncle of two of the victims.
“All the people here are suffering”.
Anti-government protests erupted at at least one funeral, where threw plastic bottles and chanted “Murderer Erdogan!” Kurdish fighters with the US-led coalition drove them out of a stronghold, Manbij.
“There is also a rapprochement between Russia, Iran and Turkey over their Syria policies”.
The leader also blamed Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) for the atrocity calling it a “heinous” bombing.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the Gaziantep blast. “It affirms its solidarity with the Republic of Turkey in its fight against extremism, violence and terrorism”.
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Erdogan said there is “no difference” between three opponents of his government: terror group ISIS, which is based in neighboring Syria; the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK); and FETO, the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Sunday.
