Ankara - Turkish military police have arrested eight people following Monday night's shooting at a wedding in the south-east of the country in which at least 44 people were killed, officials said Tuesday.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay also said that access to the village for all but emergency vehicles had been blocked.

At least four masked attackers fired automatic weapons on guests attending a wedding in village of Bilgekoy, in Mardin province, on Monday night. Media reports said the gunmen also threw hand grenades but this was later denied by a village headman.

Amongst those killed in the attack were the bride and groom, 16 women and six children.

The Anadolu news agency quoted witnesses as saying that village guards, state-employed and armed militiamen, from Bilgekoy returned fire on the gunmen who fled into a valley after the attack.

Village guards are employed to protect villages from attacks from the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).

The reason behind the attack was not clear, but Mardin Deputy Governor Ahmet Ferhat Ozen ruled out an attack by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) that operates in the south-east, leaving Turkish media to speculate that the attack could be related to a family feud. (dpa)