Turkish authorities were on Monday scrambling to ascertain the identity of a child suicide bomber acting on the orders of Islamic State (IS) jihadists who killed 51 people at a crowded Kurdish wedding.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the bomber at the street wedding late Saturday in the city of Gaziantep close to Syria was aged "between 12 and 14" and that initial findings showed it had been "perpetrated by Daesh (IS)".

Media said the majority of those dead were children or teenagers, with 29 of the 44 victims identified so far aged under 18. At least 22 victims were under 14, a Turkish official added.

There were no further details on the bomber's identity, but Erdogan said IS had been trying to "position itself" in Gaziantep which lies just 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Syria and is a major hub for refugees from the over five-year civil war.

The Hurriyet daily said that DNA tests were under way to ascertain the identity, nationality and gender of the bomber.

It is possible that the bomber had come over the border from Syria but IS is also known to have built homegrown cells inside Turkey in Gaziantep and even Istanbul, wrote its well-connected columnist Abdulkadir Selvi.