Turkey’s president says the suicide bomber in the wedding party attack that killed dozens was between 12 and 14 years old.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that “Daesh is the likely perpetrator of the attack”, using the Arabic name for ISIL, also known as ISIS.
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. Meanwhile, the city’s chief prosecutors office announced it found pieces of a suicide vest at the blast site.
Islamic State has been blamed for other similar attacks in Turkey, often targeting Kurdish gatherings in an effort to inflame ethnic tensions. One participant, shop owner Ercan Yilmaz, 36, told the AP it was “always those kinds of people being targeted – a Kurdish wedding party, opposition groups or people calling for peace in Ankara”, referring to the peace rally attacked in October.
In an earlier written statement, Erdogan said there is “no difference” between Islamic State, the militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, and followers of USA -based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for a coup attempt last month. Gulen denies any involvement.
Celebrations were ending at the henna nightand the bomb went off when some families had already left, witnesses said.
Women sobbed as they waited outside the morgue for an update on missing relatives.
Veli Can, 25, said: “The celebrations were coming to an end and there was a big explosion among people dancing”.
“There was blood and body parts everywhere”.
“We are in pain, especially the women and children”.
Hundreds gathered for funerals yesterday, with coffins draped in the green of Islam. But other funerals would have to wait because numerous victims were blown to pieces and DNA forensics tests would be needed to identify them, security sources said. But it is even more painful when it comes with religious slogans.
Erdogan told reporters the death toll was now 51 with 94 hurt in the attack.
Anti-government protests erupted at at least one funeral, where threw plastic bottles and chanted “Murderer Erdogan!”
World leaders quickly condemned the attack, with President Francois Hollande denouncing the “vile” incident and pledging that France “stands with all who fight against the scourge of terrorism”. Turkey, which allows planes from the US-led anti-ISIS coalition to operate from its air base at Incirlik, has also been in the terror group’s crosshairs.
The Turkish city is located just north of the Syrian border and about 90 km from the Syrian city of Manbij. A Kurdish rebel group claimed responsibility for that attack.
THIS is the haunting picture of a mass grave dug for the 51 wedding guests killed in a suicide blast in Turkey.
“For ISIS it is hitting two birds with one stone”. At least 50 people were killed when a suspected suicide bomber linked to Islamic State jihadists attacked a wedding thronged with guests, officials said on August 21. The bride and groom were reportedly from the mainly Kurdish region of Siirt further to the east and had themselves been uprooted due to the flare-up in violence with Kurdish militants.
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Nearly 40 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Ankara in March that was claimed by a Kurdish separatist group. A peace process with the PKK collapsed and it also began targeting PKK targets in northern Iraq.
