According to the private press agency DHA and several Turkish media outlets, the assailant was armed with a hunting rifle.
Sixteen people, mostly students, were injured on Tuesday by gunfire at a technical high school in the province of Sanliurfa, in southeast Turkey, according to local governor. Twelve people “are currently receiving care,” said Governor Hasan Sildak, who visited the scene.
The assailant, a former student of the school who graduated in 2007, turned the weapon on himself and died, the governor added. According to the public channel TRT citing the governorate, ten students and four teachers are among the injured, with the severity of their condition not specified.
“He first opened fire randomly in the courtyard, then inside the establishment,” according to the private press agency DHA and several Turkish media outlets. Images broadcast by local media show students fleeing their school, in front of which many police officers and at least one armored vehicle were deployed along with ambulances.
“He first opened fire randomly in the courtyard, then inside the establishment,” a witness quoted by the private press agency IHA reported. This type of incident is relatively rare in Turkey, where, according to estimates from a local foundation, tens of millions of firearms are in circulation, most of them illegally.
