Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Gaziantep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaziantep. Show all posts

Sunday, August 21, 2016

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Turkey wedding bomb blast: 30 dead and 90 hurt in Gaziantep


  • 08H:02  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
  •  
  • From the sectionEurope

Media captionIt is not yet known who was behind the attack


by Alara Berrak and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Istanbul
A bomb blast at an outdoor wedding party in the south Turkish city of Gaziantep has killed at least 30 people and injured 94 more, the authorities say.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said so-called Islamic State (IS) was likely to have carried it out amid reports of a suicide bomber targeting the party.
The attack, in an area popular with university students, could be heard across the city.
Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, is known to have several IS cells.
The BBC's Seref Isler, who is from Gaziantep, says the city was already on edge before the attack because of events in Syria, where IS has been battling Syrian Kurdish forces.
A suicide bomber believed to have links to IS killed two policemen in Gaziantep in May.

Was IS behind this? Analysis by Mark Lowen, BBC News, Istanbul

IS is known to have operatives in Gaziantep.
Turkey has been hit by a series of bombs both by IS and Kurdish militants in the past year. The last IS attack, on Istanbul airport in June, killed 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 was a revenge attack, intended as a show of strength by a group on the defensive.


map of Turkey and Syria showing Gaziantep close to Syrian border
People gather near the explosion site on August 20, 2016 in Gaziantep following a late night militant attack on a wedding party in south-eastern Turkey.Image copyrightSTR
Image captionThe attack, late on Saturday night, targeted a wedding party
People in the streets after an explosion in Gaziantep, 20 AugustImage copyrightSTR
Image captionCrowds gathered after the blast in Gaziantep

According to a report by AFP news agency, the bomb went off in a part of town with a large Kurdish community and there seem to have been many Kurds at the wedding.
In a written statement published by local media (in Turkish), Mr Erdogan argued there was "no difference" between IS, the Kurdish militants of the PKK, and followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt last month.
"Our country and our nation have again only one message to those who attack us - you will not succeed!" he said.
On Saturday, Turkey's government said the country would take a more active role in efforts to end the war in Syria.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a future political settlement for Syria must not include President Bashar al-Assad, IS or Turkey's own Kurdish separatist rebels, the PKK.
"In the six months ahead of us, we shall be playing a more active role," Mr Yildirim said. "It means not allowing Syria to be divided along ethnic lines."

Deadliest recent attacks in Turkey

  • 20 August: Bomb attack on wedding party in Gaziantep kills at least 30 people, IS suspected
  • 30 July: 35 Kurdish fighters who try to storm a military base are killed by the Turkish army
  • 29 June: A gun and bomb attack on Ataturk airport in Istanbul kills 41 people, in an attack blamed on IS militants
  • 13 March: 37 people are killed by Kurdish militants in a suicide car bombing in Ankara
  • 17 February: 28 people are killed in an attack on a military convoy in Ankara
  • 12 January: 10 people, including at least eight German tourists, die in a suicide bombing in Istanbul, thought to have been carried out by IS
  • October 2015: More than 100 people die in a double suicide bombing at a Kurdish peace rally in Ankara - the deadliest attack of its kind on Turkish soil

Are you in Gaziantep ? Have you been affected by the explosion? Emailhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience.
If you are willing to speak further to a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number.
Email your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, upload them here, tweet them to@BBC_HaveYourSay or text 61124. If you are outside the UK, send them to the international number +44 7624 800 100.
Or WhatsApp us on +44 7525 900971
Or comment below.
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Saturday, August 20, 2016

BREAKING NEWS: Several dead in Turkey bomb blast near wedding in Gaziantep


  • August 21, 2016   02H:02  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
  •  
  • From the sectionEurope
A man and woman mourn next to a body of one the victims in GaziantepImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionA man and woman mourn one of the blast victims in Gaziantep

by Alara Berrak and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Istanbul
An explosion has caused multiple deaths and injuries near a wedding in Gaziantep in the majority-Kurdish south-east of Turkey, officials say.
The Turkish government has called it a "terror attack" and suggested it was carried out by a suicide bomber.
Security sources quoted by Reuters news agency said eight people were killed and 60 injured.
Gaziantep is about 64km (40 miles) from the Syrian border. A suicide bomber killed two policemen there in May.
"There are people who lost their lives and we have initial information suggesting it was a bomb attack," said Turkish MP Mehmet Erdogan of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
map of Turkey and Syria showing Gaziantep close to Syrian border

Was IS behind this? Mark Lowen, Istanbul

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.
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.

Still from video after Gaziantep blast, 20 Aug 16Image copyrightAPTN
Image captionTurkish video showed crowds around some victims on stretchers
Injured woman on stretcher is put inside an ambulanceImage copyrightAPTN
Image captionAn injured woman on a stretcher is carried into an ambulance
Gaziantep Governor Ali Yerlikaya told Turkey's Anadolu news agency that the "terror attack" took place in Akdere, in the city's Sahinbey district.
Southern Turkey has been hit by several deadly blasts over the past year, linked either to Kurdish separatist militants or so-called Islamic State (IS).
Often the attacks were linked to developments in the war raging in Syria.
In northern Syria, just south of Gaziantep, there has been heavy fighting between Syrian Kurdish YPG forces and IS jihadist militants.
The border town of Kobane was wrested back from IS control by Kurdish-led forces in January 2015, after months of bitter fighting.
There has been a spate of bombings in eastern Turkey in recent months blamed on the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Earlier on Saturday, Turkey's government said the country would take a more active role in efforts to end the war in Syria. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a future political settlement for Syria must not include Mr Assad, the PKK or IS.
"In the six months ahead of us, we shall be playing a more active role," Mr Yildirim said. "It means not allowing Syria to be divided along ethnic lines."

Are you in Gaziantep ? Have you been affected by the explosion? Emailhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience.
If you are willing to speak further to a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number.
Email your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, upload them here, tweet them to@BBC_HaveYourSay or text 61124. If you are outside the UK, send them to the international number +44 7624 800 100.
Or WhatsApp us on +44 7525 900971
Or comment below.
Your contact details
If you are happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please leave a telephone number that we can contact you on. In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.

More on this story