The adults “fled in a vehicle just before the blast”, said Turkish daily Hurriyet on Monday, citing security officials who examined CCTV footage from the area.
Advertisement
The attack late on Saturday on a crowded street wedding in the city of Gaziantep was the latest in a devastating series of bombings in Turkey at a time when the country is riven by internal upheaval and shaken by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack was an attempt by ISIS to destabilize the nation by exploiting ethnic and religious tensions.
Cavusoglu said Turkey, a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the USA -led coalition against Islamic State, 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. A suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 carried out the attack, which means in the self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate there is simply no sanctity allowed to childhood, and child militants are being recruited by the thousands according to recent reports. “It is natural for us to struggle against such an organization both inside and outside of Turkey”, he said.
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.
The rebels, groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, are expected to attack Jarablus from inside Turkey in the next few days.
In June, at least 47 were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, with authorities pointing the finger at IS.
“A clue has not yet been found concerning the perpetrator”, Yildirim told reporters following a weekly Cabinet meeting.
Turkish forces on Monday shelled Islamic State and Kurdish forces in northern Syria, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Funerals are being held in Turkey today after the bombing of a Kurdish wedding party on Saturday.
Among the guests at the wedding was Nursel Saglam, who was on a rooftop overlooking the outdoor celebrations.
One mother, Emine Ayhan, lost four of her five children in the bombing while her husband is in intensive care, the Yeni Safak daily said.
“I can’t forget that moment”, she said, adding that she hasn’t been able to return to her house near the scene of the attack and was staying with her sister.
“I can not recount what I saw”, said Ilter, who lost five young cousins.
Advertisement
“I can not recount what I saw”, he told Anadolu Agency. They were aged 13, 14.
