During the celebrations of a Kurdish wedding this past weekend in Turkey, an unexpected suicide-bomber interrupted the event, causing the deaths of 54 attendees, 22 of which were young teens and children.

In a shocking display of the age groups involved, the Turkish government confirmed the incident on August 20th, as the country’s deadliest terrorist attack within the last year, and revealed their estimations of the bomber being between the ages of 12 and 14. With primarily women and children among those killed, Islamic ceremonial burials continue near the Syrian border where the incident took place, displaying grievances towards the innocent lives that were lost.

“I am frightened by the influence this terrorist group has on our everyday lives,” Senior Teresa Furlong said. “However, it wasn’t that shocking to hear about, because our society has more recently become numb to situations and incidents such as these.”

Although they don’t have claimed responsibility for the attack, ISIS is the primary suspect as it currently holds strong presence within the Gaziantep Sahinbey district of Turkey, the soil in which the wedding took place, and consistently targets Kurds throughout the Middle East. Additionally, the group is known for their brainwashing tactics among children and employing them within front-line attacks and suicide-bombing.

“They tell them if they do this, they will go to heaven and have a good time and get everything that they ever wanted,” Kirkuk governor Najmaldin Karim said in response to the increase of child bombers.

As the Turkish government tries to recover from these reoccurring incidents, they blame ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (KKP) for the problems that have been ensuing. Although the incident came as a fright to many, it is a continuation of an ongoing political crisis and bloodshed within Turkey this year.