Wedding of a Kurdish family in Antep province was targeted by an ISIS suicide attack on August 20. The deadly attack killed 48 people at the first moment and the death toll later climbed up to 55, while 51 others were wounded.

In the wake of the attack, Turkish officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the suicide bomber was a child. However, this claim is refuted by two witnesses; Murat Akdoğan who himself suffered an injury in the attack and Ahmet Gürbüz who lost her 15-year-old sister, Mizgin. Akdoğan and Gürbüz remark that the Turkish state is trying to cover the incident up and deliberately shed no light on it.

'SUICIDE BOMBER WAS A BEARDED MAN AGED 30-35'

Witness Murat Akdoğan said the wedding was of his relatives, and the blast occurred while he was leaving the wedding hall after henna ceremony that night. Akdoğan continued; “When the blast occurred, I turned back to see dozens of people lying on the ground. The scene was terrifying. Before the blast, there was a stranger we saw among the crowd. I saw that man jumping near an electricity pylon. His body was in pieces but I saw his face, with a beard. I knew everyone else in the wedding but not that man who was the suicide bomber.”

'SUICIDE BOMBER WAS SEEN IN ANOTHER WEDDING BEFORE OURS'

Another witness Ahmet Gürbüz, who lost his sister, Mizgin Gürbüz, in the attack, and whose father and brother were wounded, also shared some striking details regarding the incident. Gürbüz said the suicide bomber was seen among the crowd joining another wedding ceremony, of a family from Van province, two streets away from the scene. Gürbüz told that; "The suicide bomber was an adult and he was recorded in the footage shot in that wedding hall. The wedding family was filled with apprehension and ended the wedding immediately after noticing him."

Gürbüz stated that video from that wedding which depicts the suicide bomber must be analysed, adding; "Yet, we do not want the state to view the video because we trust neither the state nor its police. It must be watched by independent individuals for the exposure of the truth."

'MASSACRE DELIBERATELY OBSCURED'

Gürbüz reacted to the AKP government which -he said- did not shed light on the massacre deliberately. According to Gürbüz, state officials deceive the public opinion and hide the truths, and the state wants to obscure the Antep massacre like the other massacres in Roboski, Ankara and Amed.