UPDATE:
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s president on Sunday blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for the bombing of an outdoor wedding party inthe southeast that killed 50 people and wounded dozens of others.
Officials say Saturday’s attack in Gaziantep, near Syria’s border, appeared to be a suicide bombing. It appeared to be just a regular wedding and it wasn’t immediately clear why it was targeted. The BBC reports? the bomber appears to have attacked the Kurdish wedding as revelers danced in the streets.
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.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement early Sunday denouncing the “heinous” bombing and saying that ISIS was “the most likely perpetrator of the Gaziantep attack.”
He said the bomber was between 12 and 14 years old.
The initial death toll was 30 killed and 94 wounded. Later, the Gaziantep governor’s office raised the toll to 50, without giving a number of wounded, according to Anadolu. It is the deadliest extremist attack of 2016.
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 ISIS. In June, suspected ISIS militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport? with guns and bombs, killing 44 people. A dual suicide bombing blamed on ISIS at a peacerally? in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, in October killed 103 victims.
The attack comes as the country is still reeling from lastmonth’s failed coup attempt?, which the government has blamed on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen? and his followers. Gulen denies any involvement.
Erdogan said there was “absolutely no difference” between ISIS, Kurdish rebels and Gulen’s movement, calling them terrorist groups.
“These bloodthirsty organizations and the powers behind them have neither the will nor power to silence the calls to prayer, lower the flag, divide our motherland and break up our nation,” he added.
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ANKARA, Turkey -- Several people were killed in an explosion at a wedding hall in southern Turkey, a government official said.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told CBS News that according to the mayor of Gaziantep more than eight people were dead and 60 wounded.
Gaziantep Province Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said the blast during the wedding on Saturday was a terror attack.
NTV said the explosion may have been caused by a suicide attack.
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