Turkey Wedding Bombing: Suicide Bomber Was A Child
The Turkey wedding bombing which has so far killed as many as 51 people was reportedly caused by a child no older than 12 to 14 years old.
A Reuters report quotes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he spoke from Istanbul on Sunday.
The President, who is still getting over a terrible series of terror attacks in and around Istanbul, followed by a military coup on his government, theorized that the Islamic State or ISIS was likely behind the most recent attack.
With 69 people injured and 17 among them suffering life threatening health hazards, the attack has particularly startled terrified global onlookers with its barbarity. The bombing was unleashed as a wedding party made its way down a street in celebration in the tranquil city of Gaziantep.
Gaziantep, a city known for its museums and bazaars, is now a bed of mourning following the wedding bombing.
The BBC pointed out that the Turkey wedding bombing had been linked in the thread of violence suffered by the people of the country by the President himself.
A controversial figure with a political outlook that has landed Turkey in the particular crossfire of Kurdish and ISIS aggression, Erdogan also included Fehtullah Gulen — the exile whom he has been blaming for the military coup — in the series of people that were responsible for the bombings.
#Erdogan: Suicide bomber in Turkish wedding attack was 12-14 years old https://t.co/SRTXbVinwS #Turkey pic.twitter.com/ckEn1fWT9p
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) August 21, 2016
To the local media, Erdogan released a written statement where he launched a verbal war against those who were bent on sectarian incitement of an otherwise peaceful Turkish national sensibility. The Turkish news outlet Haberi Yakala quoted the President.
“I wish a speedy recovery to our wounded, my Lord. I want to stress once again and draw your attention to those killed at the July 15 armed coup attempt, the 240 citizens who died in just the last month, and those who died in the Gaziantep attack. There is no difference between the perpetrators in the ultimate dais. Our message to these organizations, those who attacked on our country and our nation is the same: you will not succeed!”
Although Erdogan’s verbal missive was aimed partially at the militant Kurdish party, the PKK, the wedding party was a Kurdish one and most of the victims of the bombing, therefore, were Kurdish.
Suicide bomber as young as 12 behind attack at Turkey wedding that left 51 dead https://t.co/kbq0syq7TP pic.twitter.com/ny4Bbeiapz
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 21, 2016
According to the BBC News report Gaziantep’s Member of Parliament Mahmut Togrul has revealed that the wedding celebrations had been for one of the members of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party or the HDP.
The New York Times quoted Togrul, as he commented on the wedding party. “Besna and Nurettin Akdogan, the bride and groom, survived the attack and are in stable condition,” said Togrul. “Many of the victims that died were children.”
The Jerusalem Post, meanwhile, reported that Pope Francis had prayed for the victims of the Turkey wedding bombing. After his weekly Angelus prayer, the Pope called for peace for everyone in the world.
The Turkey wedding bombing has come almost a couple of months after Islamic State affiliated terror bombers attacked Istanbul’s airport unleashing bullets and bombs. The terror spree killed 44 and injured several more. In the past year alone, besides the coup, 300 people have died in a wave of bombings and attacks.
While Gaziantep lies especially close to the Syria border and therefore the ISIS threat, Kurdish insurgents who have resumed their struggle for independent statehood have executed as many as four attacks in the past two weeks.
[Photo by Mahmut Bozarslan/AP Photo]
