Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the suicide bombing which killed 51 people in the city of Gaziantep on Saturday, was carried out by a 12 to 14-year-old child.

Erdogan said the so-called Islamic State, IS, was behind the attack, which targeted a Kurdish wedding party as the guests danced in the street.

Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, is known to have several IS cells.

He added that the bomb wounded 69 people, 17 of them seriously.

Reports say the city, which has a population of about 1.5 million people, was already on edge because of events in Syria, where IS has been battling Syrian Kurdish forces.

Turkey has been hit by a series of bombs both by IS and Kurdish militants in the past year.

The last IS attack on Istanbul airport in June killed more than 40 people.

The jihadists have recently lost ground in northern Syria, including a former stronghold, Manbij. Syrian rebel soldiers are preparing to advance further into the IS-held province of Jarablus.

In a written statement published by local media in Turkish, President Erdogan argued there was “no difference” between IS, the Kurdish militants of the PKK, and followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt last month.

“Our country and our nation have again only one message to those who attack us – you will not succeed!” he said.