Wedding Turns To Bloodbath As Child Suicide Bomber Explodes Bomb In Turkey

A suspected ISIS child suicide bomber killed at least 51 wedding guests dancing on the street in Turkey on Saturday.

The bombing occurred in the Beybahce neighborhood of Gaziantep’s Sahinbey district about 10:50 p.m. Saturday, according to the Gaziantep governor’s office. The target was a crowded street in a Kurdish neighborhood where the Kurdish wedding party was taking place, according to Turkey-based journalist Andrew Finkel.

According to reports from BBC, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the suicide bomber was aged “between 12 and 14” and that initial findings showed it had been “perpetrated by Daesh (IS)”.

The bomb wounded 69 people, Mr Erdogan added, 17 of them seriously.

“The explosion was the result of a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 who either detonated (the bomb) or others detonated it,” Mr Erdogan said at a press conference in Istanbul.

Blood stains and burns marked the walls of the narrow lane where the wedding party was attacked while women in white and checkered scarves cried sitting cross legged and waiting outside the morgue for word on missing relatives.

Reports from the media claimed that the majority of those dead were children or teenagers, with 29 of the 44 victims identified so far aged under 18.

At least 22 victims were under 14, a Turkish official added.

Photo credit: AFP/Reuters