22 dead, 94 injured in Turkey wedding attack

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | 

At least 22 people were killed in an attack on a wedding Saturday in Gaziantep in Turkey’s troubled southeast, Turkish MP Mehmet Erdogan told CNN-Turk broadcaster.

“There are people who lost their lives and we have initial information suggesting it was a bomb attack. We don’t know numbers of injured,” said Erdogan, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker.

Gaziantep governor Ali Yerlikaya said that the explosion in the city centre was due to a “terror attack”, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.

It was not clear who was responsible for the explosion but last week, the region suffered three attacks blamed on Kurdish rebels in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

But lawmaker Erdogan said it was the type of attack that could have been launched by the Islamic State (IS) group or the PKK.

A Turkish official confirmed an explosion had taken place in Gaziantep but would not say how many casualties there were.

“The explosion took place during a wedding. According to initially available information, the ceremony was being held outdoors,” the official said.