A 15-year-old student stabbed eight students at a high school in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul on Tuesday morning, killing one of them, Turkish officials said.
The attacker disguised herself in the uniform of the school she was targeting before carrying out the attack at the Şeyh Şamil Imam Hatip High School in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul, Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said.
The attack occurred at around 8:35 a.m. local time (7:35 a.m. CEST), according to the district governor. Authorities arrested the suspect, identified as a 15-year-old tenth-grade student at another institution.
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu said eight students were injured, one in critical condition and two in moderate to serious condition.
“The treatment of our eight wounded… is continuing in our hospitals and we are closely monitoring their health conditions,” he said. Tekin confirmed that one student later died.
School classes were suspended for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Istanbul 3rd Criminal Court of Peace imposed a broadcast ban on coverage of the incident, with Turkey's media regulator RTÜK citing the need to protect the investigation and "ensure the arrest of the suspects."
Imam-hatip schools are state-funded religious secondary schools, originally established to train imams and prayer leaders.
Under the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the schools now enroll a significant portion of Turkish high school students.
Critics have argued that the expansion has come at the expense of secular education. There is no indication at this time that the attack was politically or ideologically motivated.
