The Turkish President said he would not allow ISIL to sow discord in Turkey [Xinhua]Over 50 people were killed by a suicide bomber at a wedding party in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference outside Istanbul City Hall on Sunday.
The suicide bomber is believed to have been between 12 and 14 years old.
Erdogan accused the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of being behind the attack which took place late Saturday night and left just under 70 people wounded in the largely Kurdish province.
Officials said they found a destroyed suicide vest near the site of the blast; however, ISIL is yet to claim responsibility.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said the wedding party was for one of its members. The groom was reportedly among those injured, but the bride was not hurt.
ISIL is widely believed to target the Kurdish community in order to rouse tensions between them and the incumbent government.
This attack on the Kurds is the deadliest since last October, when suicide bombers killed more than 100 people at a rally of pro-Kurdish and labor activists in Ankara.
“[Any strategy] meant to incite the citizens against each other along ethnic and religious lines will not work,” Erdogan told the press.
ISIL have already been held responsible for a number of attacks in Turkey, most recently two suicide bombings in Istanbul’s main airport back in June which Erdogan called ‘a turning point in the global fight against terrorism.’
Three suspects opened fire outside the airport, before two managed to get inside and blow themselves up leaving 42 dead and 239 people injured.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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