Gunmen kill at least 44 at wedding in Turkey

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-05 08:13

ANKARA, Turkey -- Masked assailants with grenades and automatic weapons attacked a wedding ceremony in southeast Turkey on Monday, killing 44 people and wounding 20 others. Two girls survived after the bodies of slain friends fell on top of them during the onslaught.

NTV television quoted Deputy Gov. Ferhat Ozen of Mardin province as saying the nighttime attack occurred in Bilge village near the city of Mardin. Some media outlets reported that a "blood feud" among families had led to the killings in a region where tribal ties and rivalries sometimes eclipse the power of the state.

Citing Ozen, NTV said the motive of the attack could be an old feud between rival groups of pro-government village guards who fight alongside Turkish troops against Kurdish rebels in the region. If that is the case, the government would come under renewed pressure to rein in the militiamen, some of whom have been linked to drug smuggling and other crimes.

Mehmet Besir Ayanoglu, the mayor of Mardin, told Channel 24 that he spoke to two survivors, both girls, who said at least two masked men stormed a house where the wedding took place. Other reports put the number of assailants at four.

'"They raided the house, we were in two rooms, they opened fire on everyone, they were wearing masks,"' Ayanoglu quoted the girls as saying. The girls said they lay underneath the bodies of friends until the attack was over.

Anatolia news agency said at least 44 people died and three were seriously injured in the attack, which lasted 15 minutes. NTV reported the same death toll, and said 20 people were wounded.

Ahmet Can, a relative who took the body of his nephew to a hospital said the site of the attack was horrifying.

"You could not believe your eyes, it is unbelievable," he told Turkey's Channel 24.

Citing witnesses, HaberTurk television said four masked gunmen were involved. The attack occurred during the wedding of the daughter of Cemil Celebi, a former village official who was among the wounded.

An Islamic cleric who was presiding over the marriage died at a hospital, NTV said. The fate of the bride and groom was not immediately known. The attack killed an entire family, including the parents and their six children, aged between three and 12.

One survivor, a 19-year-old woman, said the assailants ordered people to huddle in one room and opened fire, NTV said. Another report said the attack occurred when people were praying at the house. Some guards responded to the attack but the assailants fled, NTV said.

Ambulances took at least 17 bodies to the morgue of a hospital in Mardin, said Aytac Akgul, a local official. Hundreds of relatives of the victims gathered there, wailing in distress. Several people offered to donate blood.

State television said soldiers surrounded the village and cut all roads leading to it. It said there was no power in the village and it could not be reached by telephone. Journalists were barred from traveling to Bilge.

For years, Turkey has struggled over how to trim the 70,000-strong village guard force without releasing masses of trained fighters onto the streets of the southeast, where unemployment in some areas reaches 50 percent. The system is one of the few lucrative sources of employment in the region.

The military has purged thousands of village guards suspected of favoring Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in the southeast. Several hundred guards have also faced criminal charges.

Many rebels and guardsmen are from the same villages or clans. Most guardsmen are poor villagers, and local residents and activists say some were forced to join against their will. Others were signed up by politically powerful clan leaders allied with the state.

The conflict between Kurdish guerrillas and government forces has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.