Ankara, 16 April (H.S.):

Tragedy deepened in southern Turkey as five more victims from Wednesday's middle school shooting succumbed to their injuries, raising the total fatalities to nine. Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed the grim update, noting six survivors remain in intensive care, three critically.

The assault unfolded at Aysel Calik Middle School in Kahramanmaras's Onikisubat district, where a 13-year-old eighth-grader, armed with guns allegedly from his police officer father, stormed two classrooms and fired indiscriminately. Governor Mukerrem Unluer reported the attacker also perished at the scene, having used five firearms and seven magazines.

Among the dead are one teacher and eight students, with 13 others wounded; initial chaos claimed four lives on-site. Authorities detained the suspect's father as investigations probe access to the weapons.

This horror follows Tuesday's attack in Sanliurfa's Siverek district, where an 18-year-old ex-student wounded 16 at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational High School before suicide. Such school shootings, once exceedingly rare in Turkey, now spark urgent scrutiny—last May, an Istanbul student fatally shot a principal months after expulsion.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged parliamentary action, promising repercussions for negligence and detailing post-Siverek measures: one suspect arrested, four officers suspended, and the school shuttered for four days. The back-to-back incidents have shattered Turkey's sense of security in educational havens.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar