At least 51 people are dead and 69 more injured in a bomb blast at a wedding in Turkey's Gaziantep, 40 miles from the Syrian border. The bombing, believed to have been carried out by a child suicide bomber, has been described by officials as a "terror attack".

The massacre took place in Akdere neighborhood of Sahinbey district at 11pm local time in a hall where a large gathering of people were attending the wedding festivities Daily Telegraph reports.

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Ambulances arrived at the scene as the Turkish Red Crescent issued an urgent appeal for blood.

In a live nationally-televised address in front of Istanbul's city hall, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "The explosion was the result of a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 who either detonated (the bomb) or others detonated it."

Turkish MP Mehmet Erdogan told CNN-Turk broadcaster: "There are people who lost their lives and we have initial information suggesting it was a bomb attack. We don't know numbers of injured."

"The aim of terror is to scare the people but we will not allow this," added the Deputy Prime Mehmet Simsek. "It is barbaric to attack a wedding," he told Turkish television.

One member of Turkey's ruling AK party said on Twitter that the explosion was the work of the Islamic state.

HDP has published a statement condemning the #Gaziantep bomb attack, reporting that a delegation is on the way to the region. Meanwhile broadcasting regulator RTÜK has placed a temporary media ban on coverage of the bomb attack.

Turkey has suffered a series of attacks by IS and Kurdish militants in recent months. Three suspected IS suicide bombers also killed 44 people at Istanbul's main airport in July while Kurdish militants have been held responsible for a series of attacks on Ankara.

Turkey is still reeling from an attempted coup last month against Recep Erdogan, the country's president.

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