TRUNG HỌC DUY TÂN - PHAN RANG

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Turkish wedding massacre Masked men armed with assault rifles and grenades killed 44 people. Masked men armed with assault rifles and grenades killed 44 people at a wedding party in southeast Turkey in a blood feud between families over who should marry the bride, authorities and residents said. Picture: REUTERS The bride and her groom were killed in Monday evening's attack in Bilge, a village of a few hundred people in the conservative heartland of mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey. Picture: REUTERS "Eight people have been caught and detained, and their weapons confiscated. This can be understood as a blood feud between two families," Interior Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference. The suspected gunmen and many of the victims bore the same family name, Atalay said. The Celebi family had been at odds with each other over land, membership of state-sponsored village guards, and more recently over the bride, local residents said.   The attack was sparked by revenge from one part of the Celebi family, unhappy a son had been passed over for a groom from another family in Diyarbakir. Picture: AP State news agency Anatolian quoted witnesses as saying up to six attackers stormed two houses where guests had gathered for prayers after the wedding. Sevgi Celebi, the daughter of the village chief, called a muhtar, was being married when the attack occurred. The groom was named Habip Ari. Picture: AP "They broke into the house and started spraying the place with bullets, hitting both men and women, their faces were covered with masks," said a 20-year-old female eyewitness, who declined to be named. Picture: AFP/GETTY Marriages in the conservative southeast, where it is usual to carry weapons, can spark rivalry between clans because the groom and his family must often pay some kind of prize to the bride's family for marriage, and sometimes the highest bidder wins. Picture: AP Security forces backed by armored vehicles set up checkpoints on roads leading to Bilge, the village where the killings took place. Picture: REUTERS Among the dead were six children, 17 women and 21 men. Picture: AP On Tuesday morning, four large earth-movers dug graves for victims in the village cemetery. Picture: AP Residents carried gravestones and two dozen seated women wept beside a tree, slapping their legs in grief. Picture: REUTERS Men silently watched from a hilltop nearby as soldiers patrolled. Picture: REUTERS