ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A bomb exploded at an outdoor wedding ceremony in southeastern Turkey on Saturday, causing multiple deaths, officials said.
Gaziantep Province Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said the blast during the wedding in the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, was a terror attack. Mehmet Gokdag, a legislator with Turkey’s main opposition party, said the governor told him that at least 13 people had been killed in the blast. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the death toll and the governor’s office was expected to make an announcement.
Photos taken after the explosion showed several bodies covered with white sheets.
Mehmet Erdogan, a ruling party legislator from Gaziantep, said authorities believe it was most probably a suicide bomb attack that could have been the work of either Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.
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 IS. In June, suspected IS militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people.
The attack comes as the country is still reeling from last month’s failed coup attempt which the government has blamed on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, interviewed on NTV television, said, “This was a barbaric attack. It appears to be a suicide attack. All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the (Gulen movement) are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome.” Daesh is an Arabic name for the IS group.
Mehmet Tascioglu, a local journalist, told NTV television, that the huge explosion could be heard in many parts of the city.
In Gaziantep, police sealed off the site of the explosion and forensic teams moved in. Hundreds of residents gathered near the site chanting “Allah is great” as well as slogans denouncing terrorist attacks.