Staff member at Sweden consulate seriously wounded in Turkey shooting

A Turkish staff member at the Swedish consulate in Izmir is seriously wounded in a shooting incident.

A "mentally disabled" individual has opened fire at Sweden's honorary consulate in the Western Turkish Province of Izmir, seriously injuring a Turkish employee there.

The suspect, according to the local governor's office, launched the armed assault in Izmir's Konak neighborhood at around 12:45 local time (09:45 GMT) on Tuesday.

Media reports said the attack took place in front of the consulate’s building where the female Turkish employee was working as a secretary for the diplomatic office.

The Turkish employee was seriously wounded in the incident, according to reports.

According to the governor's office, Turkish officials had detained the suspected assailant who is of Turkish origin.

Honorary consulates, which do not employ professional ambassadors, represent their citizens' interests abroad.

At this point, there is no information about the incentive behind the shooting and authorities have launched an investigation to try to determine a motive for the suspected shooter.

In the meantime, several incidents occurred in Sweden in the past weeks against Islam, including the repeated burning of Muslim's holy book, the Qur’an.

In this regard, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that Stockholm was exploring ways to legally limit such actions to de-escalate growing tensions with Muslim countries.

"'It's 'legal' but not appropriate,'" he said at a press conference recently, adding that it was up to the Swedish police department to make decisions on such actions.

The desecration of the holy Qur'an in Sweden, as well as Denmark, in the past month, took place with the approval of the two countries authorities.

ME