School shootings a new trauma for Turkey as nation mourns

An expert tells the BBC the attack in Kahramanmaras was a tragedy but "not a surprise".

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His father followed behind, propped up by relatives on both sides but weighed down by grief. "Oh, my martyred child," he wailed, "oh my darling."

His son was one of eight children shot dead on Wednesday in the city of Kahramanmaras by a fellow student,14, who also killed a teacher. This city, traditionally famous for its ice cream, now has a new and terrible distinction – it is the location of Turkey's first deadly mass school shooting.

Relatives, neighbours and emergency services gathered around as coffins emerged one by one each draped in the Turkish flag. There was an angry yell from one woman towards a line of waiting police. "Too late, too late," she chided. "You didn't save the children." Another woman shouted that the attacker should be hung in the main square, but he is already dead. He was killed at the scene.

Outside the main mosque, a mother wept, leaning forward to stroke the coffin of her daughter, Zeynep. From the family home, beside the Ayser Calik Secondary School, she heard the shots that killed her 10-year-old – shots that have reverberated around Turkey.