Teen Arrested after Randomly Stabbing 5 People in Türkiye

A suspect, whom Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya's account on X named as AK and who, according to the account, attacked and injured 5 citizens, lies on the ground in handcuffs while being detained, in Eskisehir, Türkiye, in this still image which was included in a video released on August 13, 2024. Turkish Interior Minister via X/Handout via REUTERS
A suspect, whom Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya's account on X named as AK and who, according to the account, attacked and injured 5 citizens, lies on the ground in handcuffs while being detained, in Eskisehir, Türkiye, in this still image which was included in a video released on August 13, 2024. Turkish Interior Minister via X/Handout via REUTERS
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Teen Arrested after Randomly Stabbing 5 People in Türkiye

A suspect, whom Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya's account on X named as AK and who, according to the account, attacked and injured 5 citizens, lies on the ground in handcuffs while being detained, in Eskisehir, Türkiye, in this still image which was included in a video released on August 13, 2024. Turkish Interior Minister via X/Handout via REUTERS
A suspect, whom Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya's account on X named as AK and who, according to the account, attacked and injured 5 citizens, lies on the ground in handcuffs while being detained, in Eskisehir, Türkiye, in this still image which was included in a video released on August 13, 2024. Turkish Interior Minister via X/Handout via REUTERS

A teenager wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest randomly stabbed five people at an open-air cafe in the northwestern Turkish city of Eskisehir before being detained by police, officials and media reports said Tuesday.

The 18-year-old, identified as Arda K., broadcast Monday’s knife attack on social media through a camera attached to his vest, HaberTurk television reported. The victims were people relaxing after prayers at a mosque.

The teenager was detained following a police chase, according to the Eskisehir governor's office.

The five wounded individuals were hospitalized and two of them were in serious condition, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The assailant was also carrying an ax but did not appear to have used it.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said an investigation had begun, while HaberTurk and other media reported the assailant is believed to have been influenced by a video game.



Putin Ally Lukashenko Declared Winner in Belarus Election Scorned by the West as a Sham 

A handout photo made available by the Belarusian President's press service shows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko casting his ballot as he votes in the presidential elections at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus, 26 January 2025. (EPA/Belarus President Press Service / Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Belarusian President's press service shows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko casting his ballot as he votes in the presidential elections at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus, 26 January 2025. (EPA/Belarus President Press Service / Handout)
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Putin Ally Lukashenko Declared Winner in Belarus Election Scorned by the West as a Sham 

A handout photo made available by the Belarusian President's press service shows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko casting his ballot as he votes in the presidential elections at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus, 26 January 2025. (EPA/Belarus President Press Service / Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Belarusian President's press service shows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko casting his ballot as he votes in the presidential elections at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus, 26 January 2025. (EPA/Belarus President Press Service / Handout)

Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

"You can congratulate the Republic of Belarus, we have elected a president," Igor Karpenko, the head of the country's Central Election Commission, told a news conference in the early hours of Monday.

Lukashenko, who faced no serious challenge from the four other candidates on the ballot, took 86.8% of the vote, according to initial results published on the Central Election Commission's official Telegram account.

European politicians said the vote was neither free nor fair because independent media are banned in the former Soviet republic and all leading opposition figures have either been jailed or forced to flee abroad.

"The people of Belarus had no choice. It is a bitter day for all those who long for freedom & democracy," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock posted on X.

Election officials said turnout was 85.7% in the election, in which 6.9 million people were eligible to vote.

Asked about the jailing of his opponents, Lukashenko had told a news conference on Sunday that they had chosen their own fate.

"Some chose prison, some chose 'exile', as you say. We didn't kick anyone out of the country," he told a rambling news conference that lasted more than four hours.

A close ally of President Vladimir Putin who allowed the Russian leader to use his country as a staging area for sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, Lukashenko had earlier defended his jailing of dissidents and declared: "I don't give a damn about the West."

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters this week that Lukashenko had engineered his re-election as part of a "ritual for dictators". Demonstrations against him took place on Sunday in Warsaw and other East European cities.

Lukashenko shrugged off the criticism as meaningless and said he did not care whether the West recognized the election.

PUTIN ALLY

The European Union and the United States both said they did not acknowledge him as the legitimate leader of Belarus after he used his security forces to crush mass protests following the last election in 2020, when Western governments backed Tsikhanouskaya's claim that Lukashenko had rigged the count and cheated her of victory.

Human rights group Viasna, which is banned as an "extremist" organization in Belarus, says there are still about 1,250 political prisoners in his jails though Lukashenko has freed more than 250 in the past year on what he called humanitarian grounds.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Belarus had "just unilaterally released an innocent American", whom he named as Anastassia Nuhfer.

He gave no further details about the case, which had not been made public.

The war in Ukraine has bound Lukashenko more tightly than ever to Putin, and Russian tactical nuclear weapons are now deployed in Belarus.

If the conflict ends, political analysts say he is most likely to seek to restore his ties with the West in an attempt to get sanctions lifted.