Dozens die in bomb attack on Turkish wedding party
Government condemns ‘massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism’
ANKARA, Turkey — A bomb attack targeting an outdoor wedding party in southeastern Turkey killed at least 30 people and wounded 94 others, authorities said today.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the “barbaric” attack in the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, on Saturday appeared to be a suicide bombing. Other officials said it could have been the carried out by either Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.
Photos taken after the explosion showed bodies covered with white sheets as a crowd gathered nearby.
Early today, the Gaziantep governor’s office raised the death toll from 22 to 30. It said the number of wounded remained at 94.
Turkey has been rocked by a wave of attacks in the past year that have either been claimed by Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party — known by its acronym PKK — or were blamed on IS. In June, suspected IS militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people.
The attack comes as the country is still reeling from last month’s failed coup attempt, which the government has blamed on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.
Last week, bombings blamed on the PKK that targeted police and soldiers killed at least a dozen people. A fragile, 21⁄2-year-long peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade-long conflict.
Simsek, interviewed on NTV television, said: “This was a barbaric attack. It appears to be a suicide attack. All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the [Gulen movement] are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome.” Daesh is an Arabic name for the IS group.
Simsek travelled to Gaziantep along with the country’s health minister to visit the wounded and inspect the site of the attack. “This is a massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism,” he told reporters there. “We are united against all terror organizations. They will not yield.”
He said it was too soon to say which organization was behind the attack.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the bombing that turned “a wedding party into a place of mourning” and vowed to prevail over the “devilish” attacks.
“No matter what this treacherous terror organization is called, we as the people, the state, and the government will pursue our determined struggle against it,” he said.
Mehmet Tascioglu, a journalist based in Gaziantep, told NTV television the huge explosion could be heard in many parts of the city.