A teenager has been detained after he videoed himself stabbing five people who were sitting in an open-air cafe in the northwestern Turkish city of Eskisehir.
The 18-year-old, identified as Arda K, streamed the attack – which occurred on Monday – on social media via a camera mounted on his chest.
Turkish media reported that patrons of the tea garden – in a park in the north-west of the city, which sits around 140 miles west of the capital, Ankara – had been relaxing after praying at a nearby mosque.
All five of the victims were hospitalised, with two in a life-threatening condition, according to state media.
An image of the items the teenager was arrested with, published by the Turkish government, shows he was carrying two knives and a small axe.
He was also wearing a vest which bears a black sun symbol associated with neo-Nazis, as well as a helmet, a balaclava with a skull printed on it and camo trousers.
The victims have been identified only by the initials NO, TA, CO, CA and MK. According to Turkish online newspaper T24, they were aged 87, 71, 57, 64 and 64, respectively.
It reported that, as of Tuesday, a court had restricted the publication of details about the incident that could prejudice legal proceedings.
The Eskisehir governor’s office said in a statement that the city’s public prosecutor was now investigating the incident “meticulously”.
It added that the suspect had turned 18 on 19 July this year and appeared to have no prior criminal record.
Police believe he may have been influenced by computer games, several Turkish news sites reported.
Footage posted on X/Twitter, external by Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey’s interior minister, shows the suspect lying face down on the street while handcuffed after he had been detained by police.
It also shows him later being escorted from a hospital and placed in the back of a police vehicle.
Mr Yerlikaya wrote that he wished “a speedy recovery to our citizens injured in the attack”.
