ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 8 (UPI) -- The Turkish military said Friday a recent armed attack that left 44 people dead is not indicative of a failure by the country's village guard system.
Metin Gurak, a spokesman for the army, attempted to downplay reports that members of the village guard units allegedly took part in Monday's deadly attack in the village of Mardin, Hurriyet Daily News said.
"The incident in the Bilge village of Mardin province is just violence, and it cannot be explained with any humanitarian value," Gurak said.
"But we consider the efforts to depict the village guards responsible for this incident as an institution biased and wrong," the military spokesman added.
The village guard system was created in 1985 to offer protection to Turkish villages from possible Kurdistan Workers' Party attacks.
In the wake of the deadly attack on an engagement ceremony in Mardin, authorities are looking into claims several firearms issued by the state to village guards were used in the assault.
The Daily News said among those killed in the attack, which resulted in 10 suspects being detained, was a bride and groom, along with three pregnant women and a 4-year-old girl.
