Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the Islamic State Sunday for the bombing of an outdoor wedding party that killed 50 people and wounded 94 others.
Saturday’s attack in Gaziantep, near Syria’s border, appeared to be a suicide bombing, officials said.
Erdogan said in a statement that ISIS was “the most likely perpetrator of the Gaziantep attack.” He added that there was “absolutely no difference” between ISIS, Kurdish rebels and the movement behind the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, calling them terrorists.
Turkey has been the target of attacks in the past year that have been claimed by Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or were blamed on ISIS. In June, suspected Islamic State militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people.
Earlier this week, a string of bombings blamed on the PKK that targeted police and soldiers killed at least a dozen people. A fragile, 2 ½ year-long peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade-long conflict.
"This was a barbaric attack. It appears to be a suicide attack. All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the (Gulen movement) are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome,” Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told NTV television.
Daesh is an Arabic name for ISIS.
Simsek later traveled to Gaziantep along with the country's health minister to visit the wounded and inspect the site of the attack. He characterized the attack as “barbaric.”
"This is a massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism," he told reporters in Gaziantep. "We ... are united against all terror organizations. They will not yield."
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the bombing that turned "a wedding party into a place of mourning" and vowed to prevail over the "devilish" attacks.
"No matter what this treacherous terror organization is called, we as the people, the state, and the government will pursue our determined struggle against it," he said.
A brief statement from the Gaziantep governor's office said the bomb attack on the wedding in the Sahinbey district occurred at 10:50 p.m.
Mehmet Tascioglu, a local journalist, told NTV television, that the huge explosion could be heard in many parts of the city.
Police sealed off the site of the explosion and forensic teams moved in. Hundreds of residents gathered near the site chanting "Allah is great" as well as slogans denouncing attacks.
The Associated Press conrtibuted to this report.