7 dead in shooting at Turkey statistics office

ISTANBUL - A former state employee shot dead six people at a Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK) office in the eastern province of Kars before committing suicide, state broadcaster TRT Haber said on Wednesday.

Kars Governor Eyup Tepe said the attacker had carried out the shooting after previously being dismissed from his job at TUIK, the channel and other media reported.

"The incident was not a terrorist attack. The attacker's name was Veysi Erin. He worked as a psychologist at TUIK," the Hurriyet daily website quoted Eyup Tepe as saying.

A TUIK official confirmed to Reuters that seven people had died and one person had been slightly wounded, but provided no further details.

TUIK's local manager was among those killed in the attack, Hurriyet said on its website.

Political tensions are running high in Turkey this month ahead of local elections on March 30 and amid a corruption scandal dogging Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government.