A funeral procession for victims of a bomb attack in Turkey’s Gaziantep has turned into an anti-government demonstration, with participants slamming Turkish government for failure to protect security of citizens.
Hundreds of angry mourners chanting “Murderer Erdogan” gathered for the funeral of 12 of the victims of the bombing that killed over 50 people in a wedding ceremony in Gaziantep late on Saturday.
The terrorist attack was carried out when the assailant detonated explosives among the crowd. The huge explosion also inflicted injuries to more than 90 people, including the bride and groom.
“The explosion was the result of a … bomber aged between 12 and 14 who either detonated (the bomb) or others detonated it,” President Erdogan said at a press conference in Istanbul on Sunday, adding that 69 of the wounded remained in hospital.
Bombings increased especially after July 2015, when Ankara launched a campaign against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern border areas. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.