Deadly Wedding Blast in Turkey Detonated by Child
[UPDATE: August 22, 2016 1:00 p.m.]
Turkish officials are backtracking on their former statement that concluded the suicide bomber was a child.
The prime minister said authorities are still trying to figure out who carried out the attack, saying they didn't know if the perpetrator was a "child or a grown-up."
Premier Binali Yildirium said," a clue hasn't yet been found concerning the perpetrator of the attack."
Original story posted below.
Over the weekend, a child suicide bomber killed at least 51 people and wounded nearly 70 others at a wedding in Turkey. The attack is being described as the deadliest attack in Turkey this year.
Guests and family members were celebrating the relationship of the bride and groom when a 12 to 14-year-old boy walked into the party and detonated a suicide vest. Officials are unsure if the vest was on the boy at the time of blast, or if it was detonated remotely.
Turkish local media has confirmed that at least 22 of the 51 dead were under the age of 14. The bride and groom remain in life threatening condition as of Monday morning. A sister and uncle of the couple are among the dead.
The wedding attack, near Turkey’s border with Syria, has thought to have been carried out by ISIS to destabilize the nation by exploiting ethnic and religious tensions. ISIS has been known to take children and turn them into sex slaves, soldiers and even suicide bombers, a scene that is familiar to Iraq and Syria.
The attack comes amid ongoing struggles between the government and the Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, and as the country is still reeling from a failed coup attempt just last month.