Istanbul school knife attack wounds eight girls

A teenage girl wounded eight girls in a knife attack at a middle school in Istanbul on Tuesday, officials said.

The attack happened at about 8:40 am at a school in Basaksehir, in the northwestern part of the city. Police detained the alleged attacker, described as a 15-year-old 10th-grade student from another school.

Turkish Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said eight people were injured, including one in critical condition and two in moderate-to-serious condition. Istanbul Governor Davut Gul said five pupils had minor injuries and were likely to be discharged later in the day, two were in serious condition and one was undergoing surgery.

Gul said the attacker entered the school wearing a uniform and stabbed children “indiscriminately”. Basaksehir district governor Cemil Ozgur Onegi gave an injury toll of seven female students and said the attack was carried out by a high school student identified as F.M.

The incident followed several recent school attacks in Turkey, including a shooting outside a school in western Turkey last month that wounded 11 pupils.