INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
ISTANBUL — A masked man wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest on Monday stabbed at least five people outside a mosque in northwest Turkey before being detained by police, according to local media reports.
The 18-year-old suspect, armed with a long knife, broadcast the attack at the tea garden of a mosque in the city of Eskisehir live on X before police apprehended him, local media reported.
Some media agencies reported seven people had been injured.
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“The attacker was dressed like a person in a game, with an axe at his waist, wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet, his face masked,” the site Eskisehir Durum reported.
Images he had taken of himself show that he also wore goggles over his mask, completely concealing his face.
Several news sites claimed he also wore a “black sun”, a Nazi symbol made up of several swastikas, on his chest.
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The assailant did not shout or express any motivation for his actions according to the daily Cumhuriyet, which claimed he was “influenced by war games”.