Turkey launches manhunt after gunman kills six people
In a televised statement, Mr Erdoğan confirmed the death toll and offered "God's mercy" to those killed, but gave no additional details about the attack, which took place near the city of Mersin.
A deadly shooting rampage in southern Turkey left six people dead and eight wounded, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, as media reports said police had launched a manhunt for the attacker.
In a televised statement, Mr Erdoğan confirmed the death toll and offered “God’s mercy” to those killed, but gave no additional details about the attack, which took place near the city of Mersin.
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Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency and the Sabah newspaper identified the suspect as a 37-year-old man believed to have first shot dead his ex-wife before setting off on the wider killing spree.
The DHA and IHA news agencies reported that the gunman opened fire at a restaurant, killing the owner and an employee, then fled and shot dead two other men — a shepherd tending his animals near the restaurant and a truck driver.
“He walked in without saying anything… We thought he was reaching for his telephone, but instead he pulled out a pistol,” IHA quoted restaurant employee Mehmet Han Topal, who was wounded in the leg.
“I dropped to the ground. He fired at me,” he said.
The attack came just a month after Turkey was shaken by two separate shootings carried out by teenagers.
The first assault left 16 people injured, while the second killed 10 people, most of them young schoolchildren.
A Turkish NGO says citizens possess tens of millions of firearms, the majority of them unlicensed.
