Plan of ISIL to attack a wedding site indicated in Ankara indictment
As two families who had migrated to Antep from Pervari, Siirt were holding an outdoor wedding on their street, a bomb attack was carried out at around 22:50, causing 50 people to lose their lives and leaving 94 people wounded.
Gaziantep Governor’s office released an official statement about the attack and condemned the perpetrators, adding: “In order for the public to be informed rightly, we kindly request from all not to pay attention to news released by other sources aside from the official statements of our Governor’s office.”
While no official statement has been made about the organization behind the attack, both Antep Governor Şamil Tayyar and President Erdoğan have given remarks signaling ISIL as the perpetrator.
A broadcast ban has been issued on all reports with regards to this most recent terrorist attack in Antep.
The plan of ISIL for an attack in a wedding in Antep was included in Ankara indictment
Notes and details about ISIL’s plan to carry out an attack during a wedding in Antep has been included in the indictment of October 10 - Ankara train station attack. The organizer of the massacre in Ankara, Yunus Durmaz, had actually asked ISIL’s Turkey chief İlhami Balı for permission in order to carry out a bomb attack at a wedding.
Birkan Bulut from Evrensel newspaper reported, on 29 June 2016, that several messages between the members of the organization were actually included in the Ankara indictment. Among them, one is with regards to the message (coded as “WRD0904.TMP.DOCX”) of the organizer of Ankara massacre Yunus Durmaz to ISIL’s Turkey chief İlhami Balı, where he wrote: “We want permission to carry out an assassination and a magnetic bomb action in Gaziantep. We have thought about the pluses and minuses of this; if we do not do it often and heavily, the police would cover it up quickly.”
The message, which is ended with a demand for a quick response, also includes the following: “1- NATO is withdrawing the patriots. The roads are known; if you say ok, we are going to lay mines on these roads and wait. The most fitting action we can do against them is mines! / 2 – People of PKK are having a wedding. There are those who come to this wedding just because they are relatives but the majority of the people coming are PKK supporters. They wave PKK flags at weddings and sing PKK songs. I ask if we should carry out an action at a site like this. There is a wedding one of these days. If you say ok, we will act on it, hopefully.”
ISIL Turkey chief İlhami Balı, whom Yunus Durmaz had sent these messages to, also died as he detonated the bomb on himself on 19 May 2016, in Antep, when he realized he was going to get caught by the police. Bodies of both Yunus Durmaz and İlhami Balı have been buried in a potter’s field as nobody claimed them. It had also been claimed that Yunus Durmaz had taken part in the attack of 5 June 2015 in Diyarbakır, during HDP meeting.
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Nearby hospitals were crowded by relatives and friends of the victims
Many police officers and ambulances were sent to the scene and those wounded were taken to the nearby hospitals of Doctor Ersin Arslan Hospital; Şehitkamil Hospital; and 25 Aralık State Hospital.
As people rushed into the hospitals to hear news of their families and loved ones and to donate blood, police took great security measures around the hospitals. Brief arguments between the people and the police forces were also observed as the yards and halls of the hospitals were crowded by many people in devastation.
Witnesses state two people escaped the scene after the explosion
Witnesses from the site stated that the suicide bomber had come to the wedding area with two other men around the ages of 25. These two men are claimed to have run away from the area when the bomb was detonated. Police has launched operations for searching these two suspects.
Prime Minister’s statement
Releasing a written statement after the attack, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım condemned the attack, extended condolences to the families, and quick recovery for the wounded. Expressing that ‘the terrorists have shown to what extent they are against humanity by attacking a wedding ceremony’, Yıldırım said: “Today is the day of unity; with our 79 million citizens – young and old- we are against terrorism. Our pain is great but everyone must know that our unity will disperse all of these devilish attacks.”
President’s statement
President Erdoğan has also extended condolences to the families and messages of condemnation of the attack through a written statement. Parts of Erdoğan’s message are: “I want to underline once again that there is no difference between FETÖ – who caused 240 of our people to lose their lives on the night of July 15 with their armed coup attempt-; PKK – which is the murderer of 70 of our security forces, including police officers, soldiers, and rural guards, just within the past one month; and DAESH, which is probably the perpetrator of the Gaziantep attack.
Our message to those who set these organizations against our country and nation: You are not going to succeed!
Neither the power nor the breath of the bloody-handed organizations and those who back them will be strong enough to silence Azaans in Turkey, lower our flag, and separate our country and people...”
Antep Governor Şamil Tayyar’s message
In addition to the official statement of his office, Governor of Antep Şamil Tayyar also shared a message from his personal twitter account, signaling that the suicide attack was carried out by ISIL: “FETÖ left off; then, PKK took over the duty of betraying! Now DAESH! May Allah damn you all!”
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