Turgutlu (Turkey) (AFP) – A teenager opened fire outside a high school in western Turkey on Tuesday, wounding 11 pupils, before being detained in the country’s third such shooting in six months, officials said.

Three of the victims were in serious condition following the attack outside a school in Turgutlu near the western city of Izmir.

“The treatment of 10 minors is ongoing, including three of whom are in intensive care,” Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci told a news conference in the nearby town of Manisa, saying one victim had been discharged.

Although shootings are rare in Turkey, it comes five months after two back-to-back attacks by teenagers on consecutive days in April that shocked the nation and sparked public concerns about security in Turkish schools.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek earlier confirmed that all of the victims were minors.

He said the suspect’s parents and his grandfather had been detained for questioning over the attack, which saw police and rescuers rushing to the school with panicked parents.

According to Ciftci, the attack involved a gun “registered in the name of the (suspect’s) grandmother” which was kept at the grandparents’ home.

New security measures installed in response to the April attacks had been in place at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, the interior minister added.

One resident told the IHA news agency that they saw the gunman moments after the attack, saying he appeared to be angry.

“Gunshots rang out. I immediately went out onto the balcony. He was swearing as he walked towards the side street. He was shouting,” the local said.

“He fired at people here with the gun he was carrying. We could not intervene because he had a rifle,” another eyewitness told IHA, which did not name either of the interviewees.

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