At least 51 people were killed in a southeastern Turkish city close to Syria when a suspected suicide bomber linked to Islamic State group militants attacked a wedding thronged with guests, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.
The Islamic State group was the “likely perpetrator” of the bomb attack in Gaziantep late on Saturday that targeted a celebration attended by many Kurds, he said.
In later comments broadcast live on NTV, Erdogan said the bomber was a child aged from 12 to 14.
Photo: AFP
Erdogan said that 51 people had died in the blast, and 69 were wounded, 17 of whom were “heavily” wounded.
The remains of a suicide vest were found at the scene, Turkey’s chief prosecutor’s office said in a statement yesterday, broadcaster CNNTurk reported.
The explosion was the latest attack to rock the key NATO member in a horrific year that has seen strikes blamed on Kurdish and Muslim militants as well as a bloody July 15 botched coup.
Gaziantep Governor Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement that 50 people had been killed, raising a previous toll of 30.
He had previously said 94 were wounded in what he described as an “abhorrent terror bomb attack on a wedding.”
Erdogan said in a statement there was “no difference” between the group of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen whom he blames for a recent failed coup bid, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party “and DAESH, [an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group] the likely perpetrator of the attack in Gaziantep.”
“Our country and our nation have again only one message to those who attack us — you will not succeed,” he said.
US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass condemned the “barbaric attack on innocent civilians,” and said that Washington would “continue to work closely together to defeat the common threat of terrorism” in a statement shared on the official US embassy in Turkey Twitter account.
Reports said the wedding had a strong Kurdish presence.
The Dogan news agency said the bride and groom were from the mainly Kurdish region of Siirt further to the east and had themselves been uprooted due to the flare-up in violence with Kurdish militants.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party said its members had been present at the wedding, which was also attended by many women and children.
The Hurriyet daily said the bride and groom — Besna and Nurettin Akdogan — were in hospital, but their lives were not in danger.
Erdogan said the aim of such attacks was to sow division between different groups in Turkey, including Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen and to “spread incitement along ethnic and religious lines.”
Dogan news agency said the suicide bomber had mixed in with the guests before detonating the charge.
Security forces are searching for two people who entered the celebration with the suspected bomber and then fled, it added.
Gulser Ates, who was wounded in the attack, told the Hurriyet the attack took place as the party was breaking up.
“We were sitting on chairs, having a chat with one of our neighbors. During the explosion, the neighbor died on top of me. I remember being underneath. If my neighbor hadn’t fallen on top of me, I would have died,” she said. “The bride and groom’s happiest day was poisoned.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS