One of eight girls stabbed at a middle school in Istanbul’s Başakşehir district has died, Turkish Education Minister Yusuf Tekin confirmed, hours after a 15-year-old entered the schoolyard wearing the school’s uniform and attacked pupils at random on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.
“One of our students lost their life in the incident in Başakşehir,” Tekin said, announcing the death of a student who had been seriously wounded.
The attack unfolded at around 8:40 a.m. local time (0540 GMT) at Kayaşehir Sheikh Shamil Imam Hatip Middle School in the Kayabaşı neighborhood. All eight of the wounded were girls, and the injured students were aged between 10 and 13, according to local reports. Middle school pupils in Turkey are typically 10 to 14 years old.
A Uniform That Opened the Gate
Police identified the suspect as a 15-year-old 10th grader from a different school. She walked in dressed in the uniform of the school she targeted before attacking students in the yard.
“She entered the premises wearing school uniform and stabbed the children indiscriminately,” Istanbul Gov. Davut Gül told reporters, adding that the attacker attends a different school from the one she entered.
School security personnel seized the attacker and handed her to police, who detained her. She attends a high school at the other end of the city from the attack site. Cemil Özgür Önegi, the Başakşehir district governor, said a high school student carried out the attack.
One Dead, Seven Still Being Treated
Police and medical teams rushed to the school after the first reports, and ambulances carried the wounded to nearby hospitals. The Interior Ministry said in a statement on X that one of the students receiving treatment died despite medical efforts to save her, and that treatment was continuing for the seven other wounded students.
Writing on X earlier, Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu said that among the eight wounded there was one in critical condition and two in moderate-to-serious condition, and that the ministry was closely following their care.
Gül and Istanbul Police Chief Selami Yıldız visited the injured at Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital and were briefed on their conditions. Speaking to reporters afterward, the governor said five of the students had minor injuries and were expected to finish treatment during the day, while two others were still being treated and showing signs of improvement. One child was undergoing surgery, he said.
Classes Halted and a Court Steps In
Classes at the school were suspended Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Wednesday, Oct. 7. An Istanbul court imposed a broadcast ban on coverage of the attack.
The case has landed in a country already uneasy about violence at school gates. In September 2026, a teenager opened fire outside a school in western Turkey, wounding 11 pupils, three of them seriously, before being arrested. In April 2026, two shooting attacks by teenagers on consecutive days in southern Turkey drew shock and public concern about security in schools.
What Authorities Have Said so Far
Officials have described the stabbing in the schoolyard as indiscriminate, with the attacker striking children she encountered rather than singling anyone out. Gül, pressed on the case at the hospital, said the matter now rests with the legal system.
The suspect remained in custody after her detention. Seven wounded students were still receiving treatment, according to the Interior Ministry’s statement, which announced the death of the eighth.