Turkiye arrests man for stabbing 5 at mosque

An 18-year-old man has been arrested for stabbing 5 people in a mosque garden in Turkiye. The attacker, who has been named as Arda K by Turkish authorities, was said to be wearing a Nazi-themed t-shirt, body armour and carrying a hunting knife as he started slashing people outside the mosque. The knifeman posted a short manifesto valorising far-right terrorists like Anders Breivik, who killed 70 left-wing youths in a mass shooting in Norway in 2011, and the Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslims in New Zealand in 2019. Arda K was eventually tackled and arrested, while one of the victims remains in a critical condition.

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An 18-year-old was arrested in Turkiye yesterday after stabbing at least five people at a mosque.

The teen live streamed yesterday’s attack in the city of Eskisehir on X and could be seen wearing glasses, a bulletproof vest, a helmet and a face mask.

Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya said today that an investigation has been launched.

Turkish media reported that the suspect, identified as Arda K, wore a “black sun”, a Nazi symbol made up of several swastikas, on his chest.

The attack happened in the mosque’s garden. Five wounded individuals were hospitalised, two of them in serious condition, Anadolu reported.

Video footage circulating on social media of his arrest show him carrying an axe on his waist but he does not appear to have used it during the attack.

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