Police detain 10 over Bible killings
Pastor Dale Morgan
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*Police detain 10 over Bible killings*
From correspondents in Istanbul
April 19, 2007 07:04pm
Article from: Reuters
TURKISH police have detained 10 people in connection with the killing of
three people, including a German, at a Bible publishing house in the
mainly Muslim country, authorities said today.
Three people were found yesterday with their throats slit at the Zirve
publishing house in Malatya, a city in the southeast of the country.
The killings, which have shocked Turkey, come after a string of attacks
targeting Turkey's small Christian minority.
Malatya Governor Halil Ibrahim Dasoz said that the number of people in
custody had risen to 10 and that all were from the same age group. He
declined to give further details.
Newspapers said the first five suspects were 19 and 20 years old.
Liberal daily Milliyet said they had carried a similar note in their
pockets, saying: "we are brothers, we are going to our death".
It also reported them as saying in initial questioning that they carried
out the killing for the "homeland".
The killings come as political tensions rise between the powerful
secular elite, including army generals and judges, and the
religious-minded AK Party Government, over next month's presidential
elections.
A wave of nationalism has swept the secular but predominantly Sunni
Muslim country over the past year.
For many Turkish nationalists, missionaries are seen as enemies of
Turkey working to undermine its political and religious institutions.