Forty-four people were killed in an attack on a wedding party in the village of Bilge Koyu in southeastern Turkey. Most of the dead are reported to be women and children.
According to Ahmet Ferhat Ozen, governor of Mardin, masked men stormed into the hall where wedding guests were assembled and launched an attack with automatic fire and hand grenades.
The attackers entered homes in the course of the shooting rampage. A 19 year-old woman who survived, said that women and children were herded into a room in one of the homes and sprayed with bullets.
Two girls managed to survive by lying underneath the bodies of friends who had been shot.
Ahmet Can, who took the body of a nephew to a hospital said it was a horrific scene: "You could not believe your eyes, it is unbelievable."
Stills from video footage after the attack:
The assault occurred during the wedding of the daughter of a former village official named Cemil Celebi. The bride and groom were killed along with the groom's mother and sister - according to the news agency AP.
It is believed that the attack was the result of a dispute between families. Some media outlets reported a "blood feud" - not uncommon in an area where tribal rivalries often lead to conflicts. Other reports have pointed to a possible feud between groups of pro-government village guards.
The 70,000 village guard force has often proved to be a problem for the government. The Turkish military has purged thousands of guards suspected of favoring the Kurdish rebels in their fight for autonomy in the southeast. Guards have also been arrested for drugs and weapons smuggling.
The army sealed off Bilge after the incident. Reporters were refused entry to the village.
Turkey's interior minister Besir Atalay has ruled out terrorism. He said the assault was most likely the result of a blood feud between rival families.
He has announced that eight people have been detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack.
Report from the Guardian here.
BBC has an update here that links Village Guards to the killings.
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