ع
The Afyonkarahisar governor’s office announced that eight citizens lost their lives with one more seriously injured in coordinated armed attacks that struck the Ihsaniye district on Thursday evening. Three bodies were discovered near Ayazini village and three others close to Kiyir village roughly half an hour away by road, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Two women found wounded on a road in Yukaritandir village were rushed to hospital but later died from their injuries, the agency detailed in reports carried by NTV and other Turkish media.
Two of those killed were teachers at İhsaniye Yukarıtandır Secondary School, identified by the provincial education directorate as Ayşe Sena Demir and Hilal Mete. The directorate issued condolences to the victims’ families and the education community in a statement published by Daily Sabah. This information surfaced as investigators worked to reconstruct the timeline of events that unfolded in quick succession across the rural sites.
CCTV images shared by Turkish media showed a man dressed in a black jacket and white trousers holding a long weapon beside a red minivan. The attacker used a pump-action shotgun during the assaults before fleeing in a red commercial vehicle, Xinhua reported citing local broadcaster NTV. The vehicle was later found stuck in mud in a rural area of Eskişehir province, prompting the suspect to continue on foot, according to local accounts relayed by the outlet.
Security forces captured the suspect in Eskişehir after extending the manhunt across Afyonkarahisar, Kutahya and Eskişehir provinces, Daily Sabah reported. Gendarmerie units had been dispatched immediately after emergency calls reported gunfire and casualties in the remote locations. The operation relied on tips from residents that helped locate the abandoned vehicle in the Taşlık neighborhood of Seyitgazi district.
The Afyonkarahisar Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation and assigned a deputy chief prosecutor along with three prosecutors to the case, according to Daily Sabah. In a social media post the governor’s office stated that all relevant institutions of our state have been working in coordination since the very first moment and are meticulously carrying out the necessary work. The statement did not elaborate on a possible motive for the attacks.
The shootings occurred in a rural area of western Turkey located approximately halfway between the capital Ankara and the coastal city of Izmir. Roads to the affected villages were closed during the initial police response, multiple outlets including Gulf News noted. Officials have not yet released the suspect’s identity or additional details about the condition of the surviving victim.
