41 killed in attack on wedding in Turkey

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

ANKARA, Turkey - Forty-one people were killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a wedding party in southeastern Turkey on Monday, the acting governor of Mardin province said.

Ahmet Ferhat Ozen told Reuters by telephone the assailants, wearing masks, stormed into a hall where wedding guests were assembled and opened fire with automatic rifles and hand grenades.

The local paramilitary police were dispatched to the village of Sultankoy to pursue the attackers.

Ozen said many more were wounded and the number of dead could rise.

Local media said the families of both the bride and the groom had members in the state-sponsored militia, the Village Guard, set up to combat Kurdish separatist guerrillas in the area.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30565995/

[tabasco]

1. Damn, that's fucked up.

I read another report that said it was a fight between the families.

[Blandocyte]

3. The families

The al-Capulets and bin Montagues.

[No Elephants]

4. Who let Al Capp do what?

[ohio2007]

2. al Sadr still in Turkey

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Before the Arabic stereotypes get too out of hand on this thread

Let's pull this back to reality: no Arabs are involved. At all.

The victims are ethnic Turks; since this is described as a 'blood feud', and not terrorism (implied to be Kurdish separatist terrorism), and some of those arrested have the same family name, the suspects are Turks too.

Dozens killed in 'blood feud' gun attack on Turkish party

The Turkish interior minister, Besir Atalay, said the most likely cause of the attack was a feud between families.

"Evidence so far shows it was not the work of a terrorist group," he said when asked whether the militant Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) could have been responsible.

Eight suspects had been detained, Atalay said. Most of them shared the same family name as many of the dead, bolstering suggestions that the attack had been driven by an intra-clan vendetta.

A local official told Turkey's Haberturk TV channel that the killings had arisen from an old feud in a pro-government militia that included the families of the prospective bride – the daughter of the village muhtar, or chief – and groom.

One of the families had reportedly opposed the marriage. The muhtar, Hamit Celebi, was killed along with 10 of his relatives, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/05/turkey-wedding-reception-gunmen

So, references to 'al-' this and 'bin that' are all wrong. Please, get some knowledge of foreign countries before you make snide comments about them (this is not aimed at the OP, by the way).

[No Elephants]

6. "too far out of hand?" So far, not one post has mentioned Arabs.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. That would be 'al-Capulets'. 'bin Montagues' and 'al-Sadr' (nt)

[AngryAmish]

8. The foes of marriage are getting pretty well armed