DHAKA: At least 30 people were killed and 94 injured in an explosion at an outdoor wedding party in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep.

The region’s governor confirmed the matter, reports the BBC.
 
The Turkish government has called it a “terror attack” and suggested it was carried out by a suicide bomber.

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek called the attack ‘barbaric’ but said: “God willing, we will overcome.”

It happened in a part of the city where many university students live, after a wedding party spilled out on to the streets. The blast was heard across town.

No group has said it was behind the bombing - but government sources say it could have been carried out by so-called Islamic State, which is known to have operatives in the border city of Gaziantep, 64km (40 miles) from the Syrian border.

Turkey has been hit by a series of bombs both by IS and Kurdish militants in the past year, with the last IS attack on Istanbul airport in June, killing more than 40 people.

The jihadists have recently lost ground in northern Syria, including a former stronghold, Manbij. Syrian rebel soldiers are preparing to advance further into the IS-held province of Jarablus.

If this bomb was the work of IS, there will be speculation it is a revenge attack, intended as a show of strength by a group on the defensive.

The BBC’s Seref Isler, who is from Gaziantep, said the attack “took place in a city that is already on edge because of what’s happening right across the border” but was even more shocking because a wedding party was targeted.

“Turkish society seems to have been horrified that this has targeted specifically a wedding, what should have been the happiest day of this couple’s lives.”

BDST: 0920 HRS, AUG 21, 2015
BD