GAZIANTEP, TURKEY — Dozens were killed and many more were injured when a child bomber detonated a suicide vest in the middle of a wedding party in Turkey on Saturday.
Reuters reports that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blamed the Islamic State for the deadly attack on a Kurdish wedding in the city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.
Wedding guests had been dancing in the narrow streets when a boy aged 12 to 14 years old detonated an explosive vest in the middle of the gathering.
The bride and groom survived the attack, but 51 were killed in the explosion, many of them women and children. Among the 69 others who were wounded, at least 17 were critically injured.
The attack is the deadliest among the bombings that have hit the country this year, and comes just a month after an attempted military coup threatened to topple the government.
According to CNN, President Erdogan named ISIS, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, and followers of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric as the main opponents of his government, and considers all three terrorist organizations.
