School Shooting in Kahramanmaras Kills Nine, Second in Two Days

A 13- or 14-year-old eighth-grade student opened fire at a middle school in Kahramanmaras province, southeastern Turkiye on Wednesday, killing nine people, eight of them children, and wounding 13 others, six in critical condition. Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci described the attack as a 'personal' incident. Local Governor Mukerrem Unluer said the shooter entered two classrooms where fifth-grade students, aged 10 to 11, were seated, firing indiscriminately before killing himself. He carried five weapons and seven magazines believed to belong to his father, a former police officer. School shootings are rare in Turkiye, making Wednesday's attack the second in consecutive days. On Tuesday, a former student shot and wounded at least 16 people, students and teachers, at a school in Sanliurfa province before also killing himself. The back-to-back incidents mark an unusual and acute rupture in a country with no established pattern of such violence. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek confirmed a formal investigation has been launched. Unverified CCTV footage circulating online showed the attacker shooting two students in a hallway; separate footage showed students jumping from a second-storey window. The speed of the response, the weapons' origin, and any systemic access failures will likely define the scope of the investigation and any policy response that follows.