Mardin engagement ceremony massacre | |
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Location | Bilge, Mardin, Turkey |
Coordinates | 37°27′51″N 40°35′15″E / 37.46417°N 40.58750°E |
Date | May 4, 2009 |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
Weapons | grenades, automatic weapons |
Deaths | 44 |
Injured | 3–6 |
Perpetrators | Mehmet Çelebi and associates; 8 suspects in custody |
Motive | Alleged blood feud |
On May 4, 2009, Mehmet Çelebi,[1] a village guard, killed at least forty-four people at an engagement ceremony in the village of Bilge in the Mardin Province of Turkey. The attack was perpetrated using grenades and automatic weapons by at least two masked assailants, who authorities believe are involved in a feud between two families.[2] According to some sources, it was an internal feud of the Kurdish Çelebi clan.[3][4]
The faces of the victims were left in a physically unrecognisable state.[5] Reuters said it was "one of the worst attacks involving civilians in Turkey's modern history", declaring that the scale of the attack had shocked the nation.[6]