Suicide bomber kills 32 people at Syrian wedding

Men inspect the damage at a wedding hall on October 4, 2016, a day after a suicide attack targeted a Kurdish wedding party in the village of Tall Tawil in the Syrian Hasakeh province. A suicide bomber has struck a wedding in northeast Syria as the bride and groom were exchanging vows, killing 32 people and wounding dozens, a medical source and witnesses said. / AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN

A suicide bomber has struck a wedding in northeast Syria as the bride and groom were exchanging vows, killing 32 people and wounding dozens, a medical source and witnesses said.

The bomber blew himself up late Monday in the village of Tall Tawil in Hasakeh province where a Kurdish party official was getting married.

Rows of seats in the wedding hall were still covered in blood on Tuesday morning, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

“As the bride and groom were exchanging their vows I saw a man wearing a thick black jacket pass beside me,” a witness named Ahmad said.

“I thought he looked strange and a few seconds later there was an enormous explosion.

“People had fallen on the ground and I saw bodies torn to bits.”

About 100 people were wounded, according to the medical source in Hasakeh city who gave the updated toll.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, gave a slightly lower toll of 31 people killed.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group said in a statement that one of its fighters had fired on a “large gathering” of Kurdish fighters near Hasakeh city before blowing himself up.