Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a child between ages 12 and 14 detonated a bomb at a wedding late Saturday that killed 51 people and injured 69 others.
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Also speaking, the governor of Gaziantep, Ali Yerlikaya, called the explosion a “terror attack”, while other officials said it could have been the work of either Islamic State or Kurdish militants.
The suicide bombing follows a June attack on Istanbul’s main airport where IS suspects killed 44 people.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemned the attack, saying: “Those who can not overcome Turkey and try to provoke people by abusing ethnic and sectarian sensitiveness will not prevail”.
President Erdogan has placed the blame for the attack on IS, which has carried out numerous atrocities across Turkey in recent months. The deadliest was last October, when suicide bombers killed more than 100 people at a rally of pro-Kurdish and labor activists in Ankara.
Turkey’s president has blamed the Islamic State group for the attack.
He repeated his assertion that initial information suggested the attack was perpetrated by the Islamic State group.
He said there were a number of reasons that the Sunni terror group – if it is responsible for the attack – could have been motivated to strike Kurdish targets.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I have heard of the sad news of the bloody attack yesterday which struck the beloved Turkey”, the Pope said on Sunday, after leading pilgrims in praying the traditional Angelus prayer.
The remains of a suicide vest have been recovered at the site, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the chief public prosecutor’s office.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek condemned the “barbaric” attack in Gaziantep.
Gulser Ates, one of scores wounded in the attack, told Hurriyet the attack took place as the party was breaking up.
The BBC’s Seref Isler, who is from Gaziantep, says the city of 1.5 million was already on edge because of events in Syria, where IS has been battling Syrian Kurdish forces. 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. Outside the perimeter, hundreds of residents gathered chanting “Allah is great” as well as slogans denouncing attacks.
According to reports, the bride and groom are undergoing treatment and were not critically wounded.
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Women mourn as they wait in front of a hospital morgue in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, after a suspected bomber targeted a wedding celebration in the city, Turkey.
