Nine people, including eight pupils, were killed in a shooting at a primary school on Wednesday in Turkey’s Kahramanmaraş province, while 13 others were injured.
Among the dead are eight students and a teacher, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi told reporters in Kahramanmaraş. Six of the 13 injured are in intensive care.
The perpetrator, a second-year high school student, opened fire indiscriminately in two classrooms before dying himself. It remains unclear how he lost his life, said provincial Governor Mükerrem Ünlüer. Authorities have yet to confirm whether the death toll includes the 14-year-old attacker.
The governor revealed that the suspect had carried weapons in his backpack, which he had brought from home. The firearms were reportedly owned by his father, a former police officer.
Both parents were detained shortly after the attack, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Investigations are ongoing, and the motive behind the shooting is still unknown.
This tragedy occurred less than 24 hours after a separate school shooting at a secondary school in the nearby city of Şanlıurfa.
In that incident, 16 people, including ten students, were injured. The attacker, a former student of the school, took his own life afterwards, the Interior Ministry reported.
Minister Çiftçi stated that while the events have sent shockwaves through the country, authorities are treating them as isolated incidents and not acts of terrorism.
Schools in both affected provinces will remain closed until Friday, he added.
