Turkish bible firm attack kills 3
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CNN April 18, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) — Attackers on Wednesday slit the
throats of three people in a Turkish publishing house which printed
bibles, security officials said, the latest attack on minorities in
mainly Muslim Turkey.
NTV said a fourth person had died in hospital, but the report
could not be confirmed.
Security officials said six people had been detained in connection
with the attack in the southeastern city of Malatya. Television pictures
showed police wrestling one man to the ground and leading several young
men out of the building, apparently in handcuffs.
An official from the publishing house told local television that
they had received threats over its publications.
The attack follows the murder earlier this year of
Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink by an ultranationalist, which
prompted extra security measures to be taken for writers and
journalists. Dink was also from Malatya.
Last year a priest was shot dead in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon, which coincided with worldwide protests over cartoons of the
Prophet Mohammad.
The government and other officials in Turkey have in the past
criticized Christian missionary work here while the European Union,
which Turkey hopes to join, has called for more freedom for the tiny
Christian minority.
For some Turkish nationalists Christian missionaries are seen as
enemies of Turkey working to undermine its political and religious
institutions.