USA TODAY International Edition

Late guest spared as blast kills 51 at wedding in Turkey

Attack, blamed on ISIL, was by a child suicide bomber

- Kiran Nazish

“I have not been able to understand myself what has happened. Does this mean I will never see my friends again?” Sivan Celil, 51

ISTANBUL Sivan Celil was late for the wedding celebratio­n in southeaste­rn Turkey, and that probably saved his life.

A child suicide bomber killed at least 51 people and wounded nearly 70 others at the Kurdish wedding late Saturday in Gaziantep on the border with Syria — the deadliest attack in Turkey this year.

“I was rushing toward the building when an explosion occurred inside. ... It was so loud, I still can hear the ringing in my ears,” Celil, 51, told USA TODAY from the hospital where many of his friends were being treated Sunday for injuries or had died.

Celil said he spent the afternoon consoling families of his friends. “I have not been able to understand myself what has happened. Does this mean I will never see my friends again?” he said, grappling with his own trauma.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a televised address Sunday, called the bombing an attempt by Islamic State extremists to destabiliz­e the country by creating ethnic tensions. He said the attacker was young, between 12 and 14. He said 69 people were wounded, with 17 in critical condition.

The attack comes as the country is still dealing with the aftermath of last month’s failed coup attempt and amid ongoing struggles between the government and Kurdish militants.

Elif Faras, 20, was also at the wedding. “One moment they were dancing, and suddenly after the explosion, there was blood everywhere,” she recalled. “So many people were dead immediatel­y. We had no coffins for them, so we brought blankets and sheets from the neighborho­od.”

Elif said her cousins were among those who died. “They had been teasing me to join the dance all night, but I am too shy to dance.”

Aslan Ozturk, 43, a father of four, said the explosion happened across from his house just as his family had finished dinner.

“I was telling my children to help their mother clean up, then everything shook. It was huge. The windows shook. At first we thought it was an earthquake. But when our building stayed still, I went to my window and saw smoke,” Ozturk said.

He said it took what seemed a long time for ambulances to arrive. “The whole neighborho­od came out to help,” he said. “My wife tried to stop me” because she feared another attack, he said. “We took out people with blood on our hands, while fearing something might strike again. There were feet, and fingers, burnt body parts lying around.”

Funerals began Sunday in Gaziantep for the bombing victims, and many Kurdish civilians chanted slogans and some buried the dead in a Kurdish flag, a move considered radical by Erdogan’s regime.

Turkey has been at war with Kurdish insurgents and fear the group’s push for self- determinat­ion.

Turkish authoritie­s imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the attack within the country, limiting informatio­n that citizens could learn about the bombing.

Some members of the Syrian Kurdish forces known as YPG, which is fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, raised concerns about the timing of Saturday’s attack.

“This attack is not spontaneou­s,” said Firat Ibrahim, 31, who is from Syria but lives in Turkey. “I am confident that this was planned to keep us away from fighting ( the Islamic State), as we have been preparing for months to fight them in Syria. They want to hurt our community here. I blame the Turkish government for not keeping ( the Islamic State) away.”

The pro- Kurdish political party in Turkey, HDP, condemned the attack on the wedding, which it said was attended by many of its party members.

HDP said in a statement that it was “quite significan­t” that the attack, which it also blamed on the Islamic State, came only hours after the Kurdistan Communitie­s Union, a militant liberation organizati­on, announced plans to try to negotiate to end a three- decade conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish government, the Associated Press reported.

“The attack was planned to disable the spread of peace and success of possible negotiatio­ns,” the HDP said.

Asiya Idris, 27, a banker and HDP supporter, told USA TODAY that the Kurdish people in Turkey want to live under a government willing to provide them security. “This is the time when Turkey should resolve to back the peace process. We are citizens of this country, and President Erdogan needs to treat us the same as he treats the rest of the country,” he said.

 ?? ILYAS AKENGIN, AFP/ GETTY IMAGES ?? Women mourn during a funeral for victims Sunday in Gaziantep, on the border with Syria. Another 69 people were injured.
ILYAS AKENGIN, AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Women mourn during a funeral for victims Sunday in Gaziantep, on the border with Syria. Another 69 people were injured.

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