Eight people were shot dead in three villages in west-central Turkey on Thursday, November 5, local officials said, as police launched a major manhunt for the gunman, The Hindu reported.
"Unfortunately, eight of our citizens have lost their lives, and one has been seriously injured in armed attacks in our province," the Afyonkarahisar governor's office said. Asharq Al-Awsat carried the same toll.
Where the attacks happened
The shootings took place in a rural area near Afyonkarahisar, a town roughly halfway between the capital Ankara and the coastal city of Izmir.
Two women with gunshot wounds were found on a road in Yukaritandir village and died after being taken to hospital, the state news agency Anadolu said. Three more bodies were found in Kiyir village, about half an hour's drive to the northeast, and three in Ayazini village, a further half hour east.
The search
CCTV footage published by Turkish media showed a man in a black jacket, white trousers and glasses holding a rifle beside a red minivan. Police later found the vehicle stuck in mud on the outskirts of Eskisehir, about 100 km to the north, with the suspect having fled on foot, the NTV channel said.
What next
The DHA news agency said investigators were examining whether the attacks were connected to an earlier incident in central Afyonkarahisar, in which a woman in a car was shot and seriously injured. No motive has been reported.