Arms found in Bilge village

Hasan Duruer, the governor of Mardin, said the Mazıdağı Provincial Gendarmerie team found a bag of munitions, including four hand grenades, a smoke machine, two spotlights and explosives with detonators. Duruer said the investigation was ongoing. Bilge was the scene of the murder of 44 people, who were gunned down in the house where they had gathered for an engagement ceremony May 7. The perpetrators were other villagers, and the massacre was allegedly in relation to an undefined conflict between families a few weeks ago.

Local villagers, on the other hand, claimed the munitions were found in a bag close to abandoned houses that belonged to the relatives of the suspects. The village guard system was opened to criticism once again after the massacre because the 10 suspects arrested right after the incident were village guards who are armed by the state to fight or defend against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, members in eastern Anatolia.