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Spotlight: Bloody bomb attack kills at least 30 at wedding in Turkey

Xinhua, August 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The death toll from a bomb blast near a wedding hall in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep on Saturday night has risen to 30, in addition to 94 injuries, according to Turkish authorities.

"We condemn the traitors who organized and carried out this attack," said the Gaziantep Governor's Office, which raised the death toll from an earlier report of 22.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

Samil Tayyar, a deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said on twitter that the attack was carried out by the Islamic State terrorist group.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, however, said the explosion may have been caused by a suicide attack, adding that the death toll might be higher than reported.

Local media reported that the blast occurred in the Sahinbey District of Gaziantep at 22:40 local time (1940 GMT) in a mainly Kurdish-inhabited neighborhood of the city. Local reporters and officials said that the family hosting the wedding is from eastern Turkey.

Ambulances and police were dispatched to the area following the attack. The site of the explosion was sealed off by police. Hundred of residents gathered near the site, praying for the dead and denouncing the attacker.

The blast in Gaziantep occurred on a day when Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim vowed Ankara would play a "more active" role in helping address the Syrian crisis within the next six months.

Yildirim has also pledged a fierce response to the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated recently following a spate of deadly attacks in the wake of a failed coup attempt last month.

On Thursday, five soldiers were killed and six others injured by a roadside bomb believed to be planted by PKK militants in Turkey's eastern Bitlis province.

Also on Thursday, suspected PKK militants killed a villager and wounded a soldier near Nazar village of Hizan district in Bitlis province.

Early Thursday, another bombing near police headquarters in the eastern province of Elazig killed at least three police officers and injured 217, including 85 police officers.

A car bombing on Wednesday night occurred in the eastern province of Van, injuring at least 73 people, including 20 policemen.

In late June, three attackers, alleged to be IS militants, fired at crowds in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and then detonated their explosive vests, killing 44 people and wounding more than 200 others.

Since July 2015, over 500 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq. More than 40,000 people have lost their lives in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the group first started anti-government attacks. Endi