A 15-year-old wearing the school’s own uniform walked into a middle school yard in Istanbul’s Başakşehir district on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, and stabbed eight girls at random — and one of them has since died, Turkish Education Minister Yusuf Tekin confirmed.
The girl who died had been among the seriously wounded. “One of our students lost their life in the incident in Başakşehir,” Tekin said.
The attack began 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, ranging in age from 10 to 13, according to local reports.
A Uniform That Opened the Gate
Police identified the suspect as a 15-year-old female 10th grader from a different school.
“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.
Security staff at the school seized the attacker and handed her over to police, who detained her. She is F.M., a female student born in 2011 who attends a high school in Istanbul’s Küçükçekmece district, and she came to the middle school in the Kayabaşı neighborhood where she lives. Cemil Özgür Önegi, the district governor of Başakşehir, confirmed that a high school student carried out the attack.
One Dead, Seven Still Being Treated
Police and medical teams converged on the school once the first reports came in, and ambulances carried the wounded to nearby hospitals. In a statement on X, the Interior Ministry said one of the students being treated had died despite medical efforts to save her, and that treatment was continuing for the seven other wounded students. Earlier that day, Oct. 6, Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu had said of the eight wounded that there was “one in critical condition and two in moderate-to-serious condition.”
Gül and Istanbul Police Chief Selami Yıldız went to Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital to see the injured and were briefed on their conditions. The governor told reporters afterward that five of the students had minor injuries and were expected to finish treatment during the day, while two others remained under care and were showing signs of improvement. One child was undergoing surgery, he said.
Classes Halted and a Court Steps In
The school called off classes for Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Wednesday, Oct. 7. An Istanbul court imposed a broadcast ban on coverage of the attack.
The case lands in a country already uneasy about violence in schools. A teenager opened fire outside a school in western Turkey in September 2026, wounding 11 pupils, three of them seriously, before being arrested. Two shooting attacks by teenagers on consecutive days in southern Turkey in April 2026 drew shock and public concern about security in schools.
What Authorities Have Said So Far
By the officials’ account, the attacker struck whichever children she came upon in the schoolyard rather than singling anyone out. Pressed on the case at the hospital, Gül said the matter now rests with the legal system.
The suspect was still in custody following her detention.
