Earlier, he had said 94 were wounded in what he described as an “abhorrent terror bomb attack on a wedding”.
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(Eyyup Burun/DHA via AP).
People react after an explosion in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey.
“Initial evidence suggests it was a Daesh attack”, Erdogan said, using an Arabic name for the hardline Sunni group, during a visit to Gaziantep after the attack.
The attack itself was alarming enough, but the location of the attack is one where no one would normally suspect a bombing to take place (or at least would hope it wouldn’t) – at a wedding.
Gülser Ateş, who was wounded in the attack, said she was had been speaking with her neighbor when the blast happened.
“The explosion was the result of a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 who either detonated (the bomb) or others detonated it”, Mr Erdogan said during a press conference from Istanbul. He also said that 69 people were injured, 17 of whom are in critical condition.
Police also fired in the air to prevent further tensions as scuffles arrived when a group arrived brandishing Turkish flags after the attack, images showed.
President Erdogan has placed the blame for the attack on IS, which has carried out numerous atrocities across Turkey in recent months.
The People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, blamed Islamic State for the attack in Gaziantep after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said the extremist group was behind the bombing.
“Our country and nation only have a single message to those who attack us – you will not succeed!” he added.
On Sunday, ruling AK Party lawmakers as well as Erdogan himself emphasized that they see Islamic State as no different to the Kurdish separatist PKK and the group led by Gulen, all three classified by Turkey as terrorist organizations.
In a statement, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the bomb attack and vowed to combat terror, saying it had made a wedding ceremony into an occasion for mourning.
“We stand by our ally Turkey and pledge to continue to work closely together to defeat the common threat of terrorism”, said U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass.
Gaziantep, a city of 1.5 million people, is about 40 kilometres from the Syrian border.
At his weekly Sunday noontime blessing, Francis said he had heard the “sad news” of the attack. “Let us pray for the victims, for the dead and the injured, and we ask for the gift of peace for all”, according to Vatican Radio.
ISIS operatives have previously struck in the bustling southern Turkish city of about 1.5 million people, with the group claiming responsibility for the shootings of anti-ISIS activists in Gaziantep in December and April.
“This is a massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism”, Simsek told reporters.
Gaziantep has become a hub for Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country, a major city lying just 60 kilometers north of the Syrian border. VIDEO: Car bomb explodes outside wedding reception in TurkeyErdogan issued a statement early Sunday denouncing the “heinous” bombing.
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He added that there was “absolutely no difference” between ISIS, Kurdish rebels and the movement behind the USA -based cleric Fethullah Gulen, calling them terrorists.
