In a gruesome massacre, more than 40 people, including many women and children, were killed late Monday when masked assailants attacked a wedding party in southeastern Turkey, the semi-official Anatolian News Agency reported.
The Interior Ministry said police captured eight gunmen along with their weapons after an intense security operation in the region near the city of Mardin. The dead included six children, 16 women and 22 men.
Observing Muslim practice, many of the men had gathered for evening prayers when the attackers opened fire in the village of Bilge, 15 miles from Mardin, a witness told the private NTV television network.
A report from the Haberturk news agency quoted witnesses as saying the attackers herded party-goers into one room and opened fire.
Preliminary investigations pointed to a possible feud between two families in the village, Interior Minister Besir Atalay said before heading for Mardin with Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin.
But Mr. Atalay declined to call the attack a blood feud — a phenomenon in Turkey’s southeast region which usually involves exacting vengeance for the murder of a relative by killing a male member of the murderer’s family. Such feuds have cost many lives in the past.
Over the years, successive Turkish governments have taken legal measures, including stiffer prison terms, for such crimes. The authorities have also sent officials to mediate conflicts in efforts to curb the practice.
The dead included Sevgi Celebi, the bride-to-be, and Habib Ari, her fiancé, along with Mr. Ari’s four-year-old sister, Ruken.

A day after he formally began his outreach to the Muslim world with a speech before Turkey’s Parliament, President Obama prepared to wind up his maiden overseas trip as head of state on Tuesday after declaring that the United States “is not and will never be at war with Islam.”

In this city, known for its skyline of minarets, glittering waterways and a cosmopolitan history reaching back centuries on the divide between Europe and Asia, the president met religious leaders from the Jewish faith, Islam and various Christian churches, and planned visits to historical sites, Reuters reported.

He also scheduled a town-hall meeting with young people, repeating an event he used to strong effect during an encounter with French and German students in Strasbourg last week before a summit meeting with NATO leaders.

Setting out his perspective on America’s relationship with the Islamic world, Mr. Obama told the Turkish Parliament on Monday that: “America’s relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot and will not just be based upon opposition to terrorism,” he said. “We seek broader engagement based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Showing more self-confidence each day on his debut overseas trip as president, Mr. Obama, in addressing a majority Muslim country for the first time, appeared to have prepared carefully for one particular line in his wide-ranging speech.