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| Bombing at Wedding in Turkey Kills at Least 50 | Bombing at Wedding in Turkey Kills at Least 50 |
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| ISTANBUL — The wedding had ended and the guests had started walking home when a suspected suicide bombing tore through the site of the ceremony in southeastern Turkey late Saturday, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 90, in the latest in a string of attacks to strike the restive region in the past week. | |
| President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said in a statement that the Islamic State militant group was probably behind what appeared to be a suicide attack on Saturday in the city of Gaziantep, and that its aim was to sow divisions among ethnic groups in the country and “spread incitement along ethnic and religious lines.” | |
| There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. | |
| More than 200 people had packed into a narrow street in the district of Sahinbey, close to the Syrian border, for the Kurdish street wedding when the explosion occurred around 11 p.m., witnesses said. | |
| “We had just walked past the wedding and offered our good wishes when we heard the blast,” said Ibrahim Ates, a local man. “Suddenly people started running past us. When we went back to see what had happened, everyone was on the floor, and there were body parts scattered everywhere and blood splattered on the walls.” | |
| Mahmut Togrul, a lawmaker with the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party who visited the scene of the attack on Sunday, said the wedding had been a traditional Kurdish ceremony and had taken place in a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood. | |
| “Besna and Nurettin Akdogan, the bride and groom, survived the attack and are in stable condition,” Mr. Togrul said. “Many of the victims that died were children,” he added. | |
| The attack came nearly two months after militants suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State stormed Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing at least 44 people. Turkey has been rocked by a wave of urban terrorist attacks in the past year as it confronts threats from multiple fronts, including the Islamic State, which recently lost ground in northern Syria, and Kurdish insurgents, who have resumed a war with the Turkish state in the southeast and were blamed by the authorities for four bombings in the past week. | The attack came nearly two months after militants suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State stormed Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing at least 44 people. Turkey has been rocked by a wave of urban terrorist attacks in the past year as it confronts threats from multiple fronts, including the Islamic State, which recently lost ground in northern Syria, and Kurdish insurgents, who have resumed a war with the Turkish state in the southeast and were blamed by the authorities for four bombings in the past week. |
| Turkey is also reeling from a failed coup last month that aimed to topple the government of Mr. Erdogan and left at least 240 people dead. Mr. Erdogan said on Saturday that there was no difference between the various terrorist organizations that are attacking the country. | Turkey is also reeling from a failed coup last month that aimed to topple the government of Mr. Erdogan and left at least 240 people dead. Mr. Erdogan said on Saturday that there was no difference between the various terrorist organizations that are attacking the country. |
| Televised footage showed scenes of chaos in the aftermath of the blast at the wedding. Crowds gathered, shouting “God is the greatest” as forensic teams moved onto the site. Ambulances could be seen rushing to the scene and leaving with bodies covered in white sheets. On Sunday, police found parts of a suicide vest in the area where the blast took place, the Gaziantep chief prosecutor’s office said in a statement. | |
| “Everyone here is devastated. We can’t even carry out the funerals because the bodies are in pieces. They are struggling to identify the victims,” said Hilmi Karaca, a Kurdish activist who witnessed the explosion. | |
| Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the attack and vowed to continue to fight terrorist groups. “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. | |
| Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Yildirim had told reporters that Turkey would take a more active role in addressing the conflict in Syria over the next six months and was willing to accept a role for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria during a transitional period. But he insisted that Mr. Assad would have no place in Syria’s future. | Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Yildirim had told reporters that Turkey would take a more active role in addressing the conflict in Syria over the next six months and was willing to accept a role for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria during a transitional period. But he insisted that Mr. Assad would have no place in Syria’s future. |
| “In this area, we live in a ring of fire,” said Mr. Karaca, the activist. “We live in a place where mothers are weeping for their dead children just hours after crying tears of joy at a wedding.” |