At least 50 people were killed and more than 94 injured after a bomb attack at a wedding in the south-eastern region of Turkey early on Sunday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Islamic State group was behind the attack, which he said was carried out by a minor, aged between 12 years and 14 years.
The AP reported that the police in the city of Gaziantep sealed off the site of the attack with forensic teams moving in to collect evidence. The city governor’s office later raised the toll from 22 till 50. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mehmet Sisek, said the incident was a “massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism”. President Erdogan later travelled to the city along with the country’s health minister for an inspection.
A series of attacks have taken place in Turkey’s south-eastern region over the past year, with militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claiming responsibility. In June, at least 41 people were killed after suspected Islamic State militants carried out an attack on Istanbul’s main airport. The country’s government has also been involved in an armed conflict with the PKK after talks between the two sides collapsed last year.
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