GAZIANTEP — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday the Islamic State (IS) group was the “likely perpetrator” of a bomb attack on a wedding in the city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border that left at least 50 dead. Officials say the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing.

The explosion was the latest attack to rock Turkey in a horrific year that has seen strikes blamed on Kurdish and Islamist militants as well as a bloody July 15 botched coup.

Mr Erdogan said in a written statement that there was “no difference” between the group of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who he blames for the coup bid, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) “and Daesh (IS), the likely perpetrator of the attack in Gaziantep”.

“Our country and our nation have again only one message to those who attack us — you will not succeed!” he said. He said the aim of attacks like Gaziantep was to sow division between different groups in Turkey such as Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen and “spread incitement along ethnic and religious lines”.

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. “Our grief is great but be sure our unity and togetherness will defeat all these diabolic attacks,” he said.

Gaziantep governor Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement that 50 people had been killed, raising a previous toll of 30. He had previously said 94 were wounded in “the abhorrent terror bomb attack on a wedding”.

Celebrations were coming to an end and some families had left when the blast tore through party-goers, and women and children were among those who had died, witnesses said.

Blood stains and burns marked the walls of the narrow lane where the wedding party was attacked.

Women in white and chequered scarves cried, sit cross-legged and wait outside the morgue for word of missing relatives.

Images from the scene showed bodies covered in white sheets while distraught relatives of the victims were comforted in the street.

Ms Gulser Ates, who was wounded in the attack, told Hurriyet the attack took place as the party was breaking up.

“We were sitting on chairs, having a chat with one of our neighbours. During the explosion, the neighbour died on top of me. I remember being underneath. If my neighbour hadn’t fallen on top of me, I would have died,” she said. “The bride and groom’s happiest day was poisoned.”

Dogan news agency said the suicide bomber had mixed in with the guests before detonating the device. A prosecutor’s office said they had found a destroyed suicide vest at the blast site.

Security forces are searching for two individuals who entered the celebration with the suspected bomber and then fled.

The bride and groom survived the attack, though the groom was wounded, a local official said. It had been a traditional henna night, a celebration held by the bride’s family before the wedding itself when henna paint is applied to the guests.

At least 12 people were buried yesterday, but other funerals would have to wait because many of the victims were blown to pieces and DNA forensics tests would be needed to identify them, security sources said.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, said in a statement that the wedding was for one of its members, and women and children had been among those killed.

Mr Mahmut Togrul, an HDP lawmaker from Gaziantep told Reuters it was a Kurdish wedding. IS has been blamed for suicide bombings on Kurdish gatherings in the past as militants try to stir ethnic tensions.

“It was carried out like an atrocity,” witness Ibrahim Ozdemir said.

“We want to end these massacres. We are in pain, especially the women and children.”

A major city lying just 60km north of the Syrian border, Gaziantep has become a hub for Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country. But as well as refugees and opposition activists, there have long been fears it was home to a significant jihadist presence.

The bombing at the wedding was the deadliest attack since October last year, when suicide bombers killed 100 people after they attacked a rally of pro-Kurdish and labour activists outside Ankara’s main train station.

Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers killed 44 people at Istanbul’s main airport in June.

Violence flared again this week in the largely Kurdish south-east.

Ten people were killed in bomb attacks, mostly police and soldiers, in an escalation that officials blamed on the PKK, Kurdish separatists militants. AGENCIES