World Bulletin/News Desk

Sirnak police said the 12-year-old boy killed Wednesday in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak was not shot by police officers.

A number of news and social media outlets had reported that Nihat Kazanhan was shot by police but this is false, Sirnak police department said in a statement.

According to police, the preteen died Wednesday around 16:00 (local time) in Cizre State Hospital after being injured in the head.

There were no "social incidents" at the time of Kazanhan's injury and officers did not use weapons, police added.

Turkey's Interior Minister Efkan Ala also said there was no intervention by police in Cizre, neither with weapons nor with tear gas.

“Despite this, the child died,” Ala said on Turkish Haberturk TV Wednesday. “We will launch a serious investigation.”