Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Turkish wedding attack kills 44 in blood feud
Tue May 5, 2009 2:19am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Daren Butler
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Masked gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a wedding party in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, killing 44 people including many women and children, the interior minister said.
The attack on Monday evening was one of the worst involving civilians in European Union candidate Turkey's modern history.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay said eight people had been detained. He said initial evidence showed the attack was a result of a blood feud between families and not the work of separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas.
"The state prosecutor has been working all night, listening to the accounts of eyewitnesses. Eight people have been caught and detained, and their weapons confiscated. This can be understood as a blood feud between two families," Atalay told a news conference.
He said 44 had been killed in the attack, including 16 women and six children. Earlier, authorities had said 45 had died.
Television broadcasters said there had been a blood feud between two families in the small village in recent years.
Atalay said those detained and those who had been killed shared the same last name, pointing to inter-clan violence.
The deputy governor of the province of Mardin, Ahmet Ferhat Ozen, told Reuters by telephone the assailants stormed a house in Bilge village near Sultankoy, some 20 km (12 miles) from Mardin, hurling grenades and opening fire on wedding guests.
"There were a few people, they broke into the house and started spraying the place with bullets, hitting both men and women, their faces were covered with masks," said a 20-year-old female eyewitness, who declined to be named.
She said there were some 200 people at the wedding party.
The assailants escaped from the isolated region of Turkey on the border with Syria before soldiers surrounded the village and cut off road access. Pursuit of the attackers was being hindered by a sandstorm, authorities said.
Local media said the families of both the bride and the groom included members of the Village Guard, a heavily armed state-backed militia set up to combat Kurdish separatist guerrillas and provide intelligence in southeast Turkey.
The fate of the bride and the groom was unknown.
State-run news agency Anatolian reported the daughter of the village chief, called a muhtar, was being married when the attack, which lasted 15 minutes, occurred.
"Evidence so far shows it was not the work of a terrorist group," Atalay told reporters when asked it the PKK was behind the attack. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Panama's president-elect to push U.S. trade deal
Green Business
Reuters Green Business
Reuters introduces a new section dedicated to the emerging green technology sector, featuring five people to watch in the business of green and our global green portfolio. Full Coverage
More International News
Flu-hit Mexico plans recovery
| Video
Panama's president-elect to push U.S. trade deal
| Video
Netanyahu says ready for peace talks right away
Nepal parties try to form government after Maoists quit
Karzai registers for election, running mate criticized
| Video
More International News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
House Democrats seek $94.2 billion in emergency funds | Video
Citigroup eyes new ways to pay employees
About 10 U.S. stress test banks to need more capital | Video
RPT-WRAPUP 5-About 10 US stress test banks to need more capital
REFILE-UPDATE 2-AIG to post Q1 loss, no new bailout - source
Netanyahu says ready for peace talks right away
WRAPUP 7-Flu-hit Mexico to resume business, pork row erupts
Two top Fed officials see recession ending this year
Hope and fear mark Yahoo at crossroads
BlackBerry Curve outsells iPhone: research group
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Obama's corporate tax crackdown
Slum grown vegetables
Business Update: S&P 500 up in '09
Fiat plans Opel, Vauxhall tie-up
Tough diplomacy
Housing bottom?
Chancellor Merkel underwear
The Fiat factor
Suspected pirates attack navy ship
China quarantines to contain flu
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
The Great Debate
Drugs, elephants and American prisons
Bernd Debusmann
True watersheds in public attitudes are rarely spotted at the time they take place but the phrase "tipping point" comes up more and more often in discussions on the "war on drugs". Commentary
Reuters Deals
The global destination for corporate leaders, deal-makers and innovators
Knowledge to Act
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Interactive TV |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.