Assailants kill 44, wound 6 in Mardin

Masked assailants opened fire on civilians with automatic weapons during a wedding ceremony in Mardin on Monday night, killing 44 people and wounding six others. After the incident, Interior Minister Besir Atalay, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker visited the city and were briefed by officials. Afterwards, Atalay said, "Turkey is a state governed by the rule of law, and no crime remains unpunished. The attack was inhuman." In a written statement, President Abdullah Gul said, "Such a primitiveness, a ferocity wounding our consciences, cannot be accounted for." Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the atrocity could not be expressed in words, and that no custom, tradition or understanding could justify it. In related news, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a letter of condolences to Gul. European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn released a statement saying that the incident caused him great shock and grief, offering condolences to the families and relatives of those who lost their lives, and expressing his confidence that the assailants will soon be brought to justice.