Turkey suicide bomb victims "mostly children"

Image copyright AFP

Image caption Funerals were held on Sunday for those victims identified so far

Most of the 51 victims of the bombing of a Kurdish wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Saturday were children, media reports say.

Twenty-nine victims were under the age of 18, the reports said, with one official saying 22 were under the age of 14.

The suicide bomber himself was a child aged 12-14, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Mr Erdogan has blamed so-called Islamic State (IS) for the attack.

Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, is known to contain several IS cells.

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On Monday, Turkish officials were awaiting the results of DNA tests as they tried to identify the suicide attacker, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

It added that the type of bomb, which contained scraps of metal, was similar to those used in previous attacks on pro-Kurdish gatherings.

Kurdish fighters, backed by the US-led coalition, have been at the forefront of the fight against IS in Syria.

Image copyright AFP

Image caption The suicide bomb was packed with scraps of metal

There were emotional scenes as dozens of funerals for victims took place on Sunday. Some distraught relatives threw themselves onto the coffins, correspondents said.

The explosion happened as wedding guests danced in the street on Saturday evening in a predominantly Kurdish district of Gaziantep.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples" Democratic Party (HDP), said the wedding had been for one of its members.

The married couple, from the mainly Kurdish region of Siirt in the south-east, survived the blast but were among the nearly 70 people injured. The couple"s condition was not believed to be serious.

Witness Veli Can, 25, said that the celebrations were coming to an end when the explosion ripped through a crowd of people dancing.

"There was blood and body parts everywhere," he said.

Mr Erdogan said IS had been trying to "position itself" in Gaziantep, which has become a major hub for Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war.

In a written statement, he said there was "no difference" between IS, the Kurdish militants of the PKK, and followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt last month.

Deadliest recent attacks on civilians in Turkey

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption President Erdogan (fifth from left) prays for airport employees killed at Ataturk airport in Istanbul

• 20 August: Bomb attack on wedding party in Gaziantep kills at least 51 people, IS suspected


• 29 June: A gun and bomb attack on Ataturk airport in Istanbul kills 41 people, in an attack blamed on IS militants


• 13 March: 37 people are killed by Kurdish militants in a suicide car bombing in Ankara


• 17 February: 28 people, many of them civilians, are killed in an attack on a military convoy in Ankara


• 12 January: 10 people, including at least eight German tourists, die in a suicide bombing in Istanbul, thought to have been carried out by IS


• October 2015: More than 100 people die in a double suicide bombing at a Kurdish peace rally in Ankara – the deadliest attack of its kind on Turkish soil

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Turkey suicide bomb victims "mostly children"
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