Istanbul church attack: masked people attack church service – one dead

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Two masked men attacked a Catholic church in the metropolis of Istanbul, Turkey, killing one person. The two attacked a church service participant with a weapon on Sunday, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on the X platform. The person died. Detectives are investigating the background of the crime. According to the police, the perpetrators are still on the run. They are being looked for. Broadcaster CNN Türk reported that police had set up roadblocks at key traffic points and were carrying out stricter checks.

Images from the DHA news agency, said to have come from a surveillance camera in front of the church, showed two people dressed in black with black masks slowly approaching.

Erdogan called the priest after the attack

The Catholic-Italian Church of Santa Maria is located in the Sariyer district of Istanbul. Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the community in Istanbul during Sunday prayers in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the church priest and expressed his condolences. Interior Minister Yerlikaya visited the scene in the afternoon and said they would not allow anyone to destroy cohesion in Turkey. He initially did not confirm media reports of injuries. Authorities initially did not provide more precise information about the type of weapon used.

Turkey is more than 99 percent Muslim. According to the state news agency Anadolu, more than 180,000 Christians still live in the country. (SDA)

Source: Blick