In Pictures

Mourning in Gaziantep

Family and friends of victims killed in a suicide attack on a Kurdish wedding gather to pay their respects to the dead.

A suicide bomber as young as 12 killed at least 51 people at a wedding in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday, pointing the finger at ISIL. [Osman Orsal/Reuters]

22 Aug 2016

Turkish authorities have identified 44 of the 51 people killed on Saturday after a child suicide bomber targeted a Kurdish wedding ceremony in the Turkish city of Gaziantep along the Syrian border.

All of the identified victims were laid to rest in Gazinantep on Sunday.

“Every type of death is painful. But it is even more painful when it comes with religious slogans. It is even more painful when they mix religion with politics,” said Omer Emlik, who said he was an uncle of two of the victims.

At least 29 of the blast’s 44 identified victims were under the age of 18, with 22 of them under 14, a Turkish official said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) was suspected of orchestrating the attack.

The explosion was the latest attack to rock the key NATO member in a horrific year that has seen strikes blamed on Kurdish and ISIL militants, as well as a bloody July 15 botched coup attempt. [Sedat Suna/EPA]

Graves are prepared as family members and friends attend the funeral of victims.[Osman Orsal/Reuters]

As hundreds waited to say their final goodbye, some voiced anger at what they perceived to be the government's failure to prevent the attack. [Sedat Suna/EPA]

While Kurdish militias in Turkey are waging an insurgency against the state, Syrian Kurdish militias are the US-led coalition's strongest ground asset in the war against ISIL. [Sedat Suna/EPA]

Turkish police during a protest against the Turkish government before the funeral ceremony in Gaziantep, along Turkey's southeastern border with Syria. [Sedat Suna/EPA]

A relative of one of the victims of the wedding party suicide bomber is overcome by grief as he stands by the coffin. [Osman Orsal/Reuters]

Family and friends of victims of the suicide bomber attend the funeral ceremony in Gaziantep. [Osman Orsal/Reuters]

The bride and groom - a couple from the predominantly Kurdish region of Siirt in southeast Turkey - were injured in the wedding attack, although their wounds were not serious. [Osman Orsal/Reuters]

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Gaziantep would show the same spirit it had shown in 1921, when it defeated French forces in Turkey's Independence War, which led to the word Gazi (war hero) being added to its original name of Antep. [Osman Orsal/Reuters]