Istanbul: At least 16 people were injured, five of them seriously, after a teenager opened fire at a school in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old shooter, a former student of the school, then turned the gun on himself. He was found dead by the police, governor Hasan Sildak was quoted by AP as saying.
He did not provide names or give any motive for the crime though.
The teenager fired randomly at the school with a shotgun before hiding inside the building, Sildak said. The shooter later killed himself with the same gun, he added.
The shooting took place in the Siverek district. While most of the injured were being treated locally, five were referred to the provincial capital because of the severity of their injuries.
The governor said that the injured include 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee, and a police officer, Sildak said.
“The individual was cornered inside the building through police intervention and died after shooting himself,” Sildak said, adding that a “comprehensive” investigation into the shooting would be carried out.
Authorities have not yet said whether it was an isolated incident or an act of terror that formed part of a broader plot.
School shootings are rare in Turkey, unlike in the United States. After the incident, Following the incident, special security forces were deployed to the school and students were evacuated from the building, Sildak said.
After the shooting, television footage showed ambulances standing outside the school as students fled in panic.
The incident comes a few days after the shooting near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. Authorities had described that incident as an act of terror.
Three people had been shot dead outside the consulate. Interior minister Mustafa Çiftçi said on April 7 that those killed were linked to a religious terrorist organisation.
