NPR News:土耳其婚礼遇袭致50余人死亡 疑凶是ISIS的儿童人肉炸弹

In Turkey today, funerals are being held for many of the more than 50 people killed by a suicide bomber at a wedding celebration over the weekend. Turkey's president says the bomber was linked to the Islamic State. And he also says the attacker was only a child, probably 12 to 14 years old. We're learning this morning that at least 22 of his victims were also children.
Joining us from Istanbul to talk about this latest terror attack to hit Turkey is NPR's Peter Kenyon. Good morning.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And what do we know so far?
KENYON: Well, it was a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep. That's a city down near the border with Syria. And like a lot of these events, it was huge. Hundreds of people were around celebrating. And sometime, we're told around 11 o'clock, the bomber, apparently a very young person, came in and set off an explosive vest — a huge explosion, the carnage was extensive.
As you mentioned, many of the victims were children. The bride and groom, we're told, did survive. But what was supposed to be a happy day for them turned into a horrific scene that they won't be forgetting.
MONTAGNE: And how unusual is this there in Turkey for a suicide bomber to be so young?
KENYON: Oh, it's very unusual. As far as I can tell, it's never happened here. ISIS has used child bombers before. There's a monitoring group in the U.K. called the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. And they say ISIS used 18 child bombers in 2015. There have been reports of cases in Nigeria and Afghanistan as well. But for Turkey, I think this is a first.
MONTAGNE: Turkey is blaming the Islamic State, but there is no claim of responsibility at this point. So why ISIS?
KENYON: Well, there's been attacks by a number of different groups, including Kurdish militants from the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party. They've been fighting in the southeast for some time. But since these victims were mainly Kurdish, the PKK probably wasn't behind that is the thinking. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the police have told him their investigation is pointing to ISIS. This is what he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRES RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: (Foreign language spoken).
KENYON: Now, right there at the beginning where he says (foreign language spoken), that in Turkish is where he's saying 12 to 14 years old is how young the bomber was, according to police. And he goes on to say that ISIS has plotted a number of attacks. They're trying to destabilize Turkey. And it looks like they were behind this one.
上周末，土耳其一场婚礼遭遇自杀式爆炸袭击，造成50余人死亡，今天土耳其为婚礼爆炸案遇难者举行了葬礼。土耳其总统称爆炸袭击者与ISIS有关。同时，他也指出袭击者还是个孩子，年龄大约在12岁至14岁之间。今天早上我们了解到的最新消息是，遇难者中至少有22名儿童。
NPR新闻的彼得·肯杨将从伊斯坦布尔和我们连线，介绍这起土耳其最新恐怖袭击的详细情况。早上好。
彼得·肯杨连线：你好，芮妮。
蒙塔：目前我们了解到了什么信息？
肯杨：那是在加济安泰普市举行的一场库尔德人的婚礼。这座城市邻近叙利亚边境。与大部分婚礼一样，这场婚礼非常盛大。有数百人出席婚礼。据我们了解，上午11点左右，一个年纪很小的人进入婚礼现场并引爆了身上的爆炸背心，那是一场非常大的爆炸，伤亡惨重。
你刚才提到过，许多遇难者都是儿童。我们获悉新娘和新郎在爆炸中幸存。但是，对二人来说，本来应该是幸福的日子，却演变成了他们永远无法忘记的恐怖场景。
蒙塔：对土耳其来说，年纪如此小的自杀式爆炸袭击者有多不寻常？
肯杨：非常罕见。据我所知，这在土耳其从来没发生过。ISIS以前曾用过儿童爆炸袭击者。英国有个观察组织名为叙利亚人权观察组织。据该组织说，ISIS在2015年使用过18名儿童爆炸袭击者。尼日利亚和阿富汗也有儿童爆炸袭击者制造袭击的报道。但是我想这在土耳其还是第一次。
蒙塔：土耳其指责ISIS实施了这起袭击，不过目前没有任何组织宣称负责。为什么土耳其认为是ISIS？
肯杨：多个组织在土耳其实施了多起袭击，包括来自库尔德工人党的库尔德武装分子。该组织一直在东南部地区战斗。不过因为这起袭击中的大部分遇难者是库尔德人，库尔德工人党不太可能是爆炸案的幕后凶手。土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安表示，他从警方那里得知，调查结果指向ISIS。下面是总统所说。
（录音档案）
雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安总统：（用外语讲话）。
肯杨：一开始他用土耳其语表示，警方称爆炸袭击者的年龄在12岁至14岁左右。随后他说，ISIS策划了多起袭击。他们的目的是要破坏土耳其的稳定。看起来ISIS是这起爆炸案的幕后黑手。

MONTAGNE: Why would ISIS carry out such a bloody attack against Kurds celebrating a wedding in this town, Gaziantep? I mean, is there a particular focus that they would have right here against these exact people?
KENYON: Well, not against these exact people. That's a very good point. But one possible explanation is that ISIS is upset about Kurdish military victories in northern Syria 'cause it's the Kurdish fighters who are really leading the charge there against the ISIS fighters. They just liberated Manbij, a city near the border.
So some are saying this could be revenge taken against Kurdish civilians who had nothing to do with it, obviously, inside Turkey for Kurdish battlefield gains in Syria. And also, of course, it's a message to Turkey that, hey, we're still here. We can still do this.
MONTAGNE: And with this bombing, it just highlights that this has been a truly awful year for Turkey in terms of terror attacks and not just from ISIS, as you've said. What is the government doing to reassure people about their safety?
KENYON: Well they're trying, but it's quite tense. I mean, three attacks from the PKK, the Kurdish fighters just last week and now this. Turkey's still trying to recover from the coup last month, the failed coup. And President Erdogan blames that on a U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. He's saying all of these groups are the same. They all want to hurt us. Here's a bit of what he said about that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ERDOGAN: (Foreign language spoken).
KENYON: Now, he's saying ISIS, the PKK and the Gulen group, they're all terrorists. They've got to be fought. Now, the U.S. agrees that ISIS and the PKK are terrorist groups. But it doesn't see the Gulen movement that way. And that's been a sore point. There's a delegation coming here to talk about Turkey's extradition request. And then Joe Biden is coming, the vice president, to try and shore up relations.
So a heavy week of diplomacy coming to see if they can shore up ties.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Peter Kenyon speaking to us from Istanbul. Thanks very much.
KENYON: You're welcome, Renee.
蒙塔：ISIS为什么要对在加济安泰普市庆祝婚礼的库尔德人实施如此血腥的袭击？他们是特别针对这一地区的这些人吗？
肯杨：他们不是针对这些人。你的问题非常好。其中一个可能的解释是，ISIS对库尔德力量在叙利亚北部地区取得的胜利感到不安，因为在该地区带头打击ISIS武装分子的就是库尔德力量。库尔德人刚刚让边境城市曼比杰重获自由。
有人认为这可能是对库尔德平民的报复，但其实这些平民与土耳其或是库尔德力量在叙利亚战场获得胜利没有一点关系。当然，这也是对土耳其传达了一个信息：我们还在这里。我们还能制造袭击。
蒙塔：这起爆炸案表明，土耳其这一年过得十分糟糕，因为他们遭遇了多起恐怖袭击，如你所说，发动袭击的不仅仅是ISIS。土耳其政府要怎样做才能保证民众的安全？
肯杨：政府在尽力，但是形势非常紧张。上周库尔德工人党实施了三起袭击，然后又发生了这起婚礼爆炸案。土耳其仍在试图从上个月发生的政变未遂中恢复过来。总统埃尔多安称目前流亡美国的宗教人士费特胡拉·居伦策划了政变。他说，这些组织都一样。他们都想伤害我们。下面是他演讲的节选。
（录音档案）
埃尔多安：（用外语讲话）。
肯杨：他说，ISIS、库尔德工人党和居伦领导的组织都是恐怖分子。我们要打击这些组织。现在美国认同ISIS和库尔德工人党是恐怖组织。但是美国不这样看待居伦领导的运动。这是一个痛处。美国已经派代表团来到土耳其协商土耳其提出的引渡要求。接下来副总统乔·拜登也将访问土耳其，加强两国关系。
这周将是重要的外交周，我们要关注一下他们能否加强两国关系。
蒙塔：以上是NPR新闻的彼得·肯杨从伊斯坦布尔带来的报道。非常谢谢你。
肯杨：不客气，芮妮。