Turkey arrests teenager for stabbing attack at mosque

Eighteen-year-old injured at least five people at random, reportedly under the influence of a video game.

Turkish police have arrested a teenager who on Monday stabbed at least five people at a mosque in the northwest of the country.

Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday that an investigation has begun, but he did not elaborate on the motive behind the attack in the city of Eskisehir. Local media have speculated the attack, which the teen streamed live, may have been influenced by a video game.

Wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest, the attacker struck at the tea garden of a mosque. He was apprehended following a police chase, according to the Eskisehir governor’s office.

The 18-year-old suspect, identified as Arda K, broadcast the attack live on X, local media reported.

Five wounded individuals were hospitalised, two of them in serious condition, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Other outlets said seven people had been injured.

Haberturk and other media reported the assailant may have been influenced by a video game.

As well as the bulletproof vest and helmet, images he broadcast showed him wearing goggles over a mask, completely concealing his face. News sites claimed he wore a “black sun,” a Nazi symbol made up of several swastikas, on his chest.

He also carried an axe at his waist but did not appear to have used it, according to local media.

The assailant did not shout or express any motivation for his actions, the daily Cumhuriyet reported, adding that his appearance suggested he was “influenced by war games”.

Alongside other countries, Turkey has witnessed a spate of random knife attacks in recent months.

A man stabbed two people to death last month in the eastern Bingol province, injuring seven others, local media reported.

In January, a man was arrested after attacking the imam and a member of the congregation at the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies