Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/717873
BySuzanFraser The Associated Press ANKARA, TURKEY Turkey vowed Monday to fight Is- lamic State militants at home and to "cleanse" the group from its borders after a weekend suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding, an attack that came amid re- cent gains by Syrian Kurd- ish militia forces against the extremists in neighbor- ing Syria. The bombing Saturday in the southern city of Ga- ziantep, near the border with Syria, killed at least 54 people — many of them children. Nearly 70 others were wounded in the at- tack, the deadliest in Tur- key this year. There was no immedi- ate claim of responsibility, but officials said it appeared to be the work of the Is- lamic State group. Authori- ties were trying to identify the attacker, who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ini- tially said was a child. How- ever, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday that it was unclear whether the bomber was "a child or a grown-up." "A clue has not yet been found concerning the per- petrator," Yildirim told re- porters following a weekly Cabinet meeting. He said the earlier assertion that the attacker was child was a "guess" based on witness accounts. At least 22 of those killed were children younger than 14, according to a Turkish official who spoke on con- dition of anonymity in line with Turkish government rules. The attack came after the Syria Democratic Forces, a coalition led by the main Kurdish militia groups in Syria, captured the former IS stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition. "It appears to be an act to punish the PYD," said Ni- hat Ali Ozcan a security and terrorism expert at the An- kara-based Economic Pol- icy Research Foundation of Turkey, referring to a Syr- ian Kurdish group whose militia is fighting IS. "It's the cross-border settle- ment of scores by two ac- tors fighting in Syria." Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters Monday that Turkey would press ahead with its fight against the Islamic State group inside Turkey and support efforts to remove IS fighters from its borders. "Our border has to be completely cleansed of Daesh," Cavusoglu said, us- ing an Arabic acronym for the extremists. IS "mar- tyred our ... citizens. It is natural for us to struggle against such an organiza- tion both inside and out- side of Turkey." Cavusoglu said Turkey had become a main IS tar- get because of measures it has implemented to stop recruits from crossing into Syria to join the fighting, as well as hundreds of arrests of IS suspects in Turkey. "Turkey has always been Daesh's primary target, be- cause Turkey has dried out the source of Daesh's supply of foreign fighters. ... It has stopped them from crossing into Syria," he said. The deadly attack also came amid ongoing strug- gles between the govern- ment and Kurdish mili- tants linked to the out- lawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, and as the country was still reeling from the aftermath of last month's failed coup attempt, which the gov- ernment has blamed on a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, and his followers. The bombing follows a suspected IS attack in June on Istanbul's main airport that killed 44 peo- ple; a double suicide bomb- ing blamed on IS at a peace rally in Turkey's capital, Ankara, in October killed 103 people. Ozcan, the security ex- pert, said Saturday's attack was likely carried out by a local IS cell whose members would have known the wed- ding was a Kurdish one and targeted the wedding party for the "shock" value. The bride and groom, who survived the bombing, urged authorities to act to prevent future bloodshed. "They turned our best day to hell. We have no rel- atives left. They all died," said the groom, Nurettin Akdogan. "I hope this will be the last one. Let no one else get hurt." "From now on, find a so- lution," added the bride, Besna Akdogan, sobbing. SUICIDE BOMBING Turkeyvowsto'cleanse'borderofISa erdeadlyattack MAHMUTBOZARSLAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS People carry a victim's coffin as they attend funeral services for dozens of people killed in last night's bomb attack targeting an outdoor wedding party in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey, on Sunday. By Nasser Karimi The Associated Press TEHRAN, IRAN Russia has stopped using an Iranian air base for launching air- strikes on Syria for the time being, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, just hours after the Iranian defense min- ister criticized Moscow for having "kind of show- off and ungentlemanly" at- titude by publicizing their actions. Moscow, which had used the Shahid Nojeh Air Base to refuel its bombers strik- ing Syria at least three times last week, confirmed that all Russian warplanes that were based in Iran have returned to Russia. A statement issued by the Russian Defense Min- istry said Monday that as long as Iran agreed, Rus- sia could use the Iranian air base again, "depending on the situation" in Syria. Iranian Foreign Min- istry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran that the Russian airstrikes on militants in Syria were "temporary, based on a Russian re- quest." "It is finished, for now," Ghasemi said, without elab- orating. Last week, Russia an- nounced it used the air- field, located some 31 miles north of the Iranian city of Hamedan. Iranian officials only confirmed Russia's presence a day later. Earlier Monday, state TV quoted Iran's defense min- ister as saying that Russia "will use the base for a very short and fixed span." The comments by Gen. Hos- sein Dehghan came after he chastised parliament this weekend for asking questions about Russia us- ing the base. Responding to a ques- tion about why Iran didn't initially announce Russia's presence at the airfield, De- hghan appeared prickly on the state TV broadcast. "Russians are interested to show they are a super- power to guarantee their share in political future of Syria and, of course, there has been a kind of show- off and ungentlemanly (at- titude) in this field," he said. Dehghan's remarks also suggest Russia and Iran ini- tially agreed to keep Mos- cow's use of the air base quiet. Its announcement likely worried Iran's Sunni- ruled Mideast neighbors, which host American mil- itary personnel. The Interfax news agency on Monday also quoted Russia's ambas- sador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, as confirm- ing that all of Moscow's warplanes have been with- drawn from Iran. Dzhaga- ryan said, however, that he does "not see any reason" why the Russians can't use the Iranian base again. For Iran, allowing Rus- sia to launch strikes from inside the country is likely to prove unpopular. Many still remember how Russia, alongside Britain, invaded and occupied Iran dur- ing World War II to secure oil fields and Allied sup- ply lines. But while Britain withdrew, Russia refused to leave, sparking the first in- ternational rebuke by the nascent United Nations Se- curity Council in 1946. Analysts have suggested Russia potentially lever- aged Iran into allowing it to use the airfield over ei- ther economic or military interests, such as Tehran wanting to purchase Suk- hoi-30 fighter jets or its de- ployment of Russian S-300 air defense missile systems. Russia initially held off on supplying the missile sys- tem to Tehran amid negoti- ations over Iran's contested nuclear program. Over the weekend, photo- graphs of President Hassan Rouhani were published in Iranian state media near a Bavar-373 missile de- fense system. That system is designed to be the local equivalent of the S-300 — perhaps an Iranian signal back to Moscow that it's capable of defending itself without the Russian mis- sile system. MIDDLE EAST Ir an ia ns cl ai m Ru ss ia ha s st op pe d us in g Ir an b as e fo r Sy ri a ai rs tr ik es Construction Burrows Constructi on Remodel, New Additions, Siding Repair and Replacement, Water and Dryrot New Construction Foundation to Finish Ph:(530) 515-9779 Residential•Commerical PATIOS•DECKS REFRENCES Lic#824770 Roofing Call for Estimates! Residential, Commercial & Mobiles www.harbertroofing.com HARBERT ROOFING, INC. 530-223-3251 Lic# 696974 Time To Roof? Blinds Need Blinds? 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