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Two masked attackers attacked a church in Istanbul during a Sunday service, killing one person, Turkish officials said, according to the Associated Press. Police there arrested two men on Sunday evening who they believe opened fire on a Catholic church in Istanbul that morning, the interior minister said.
According to a statement from Interior Minister Ali Yerlikay, armed attackers attacked the Santa Maria church in the Sariyer district at 11:40 a.m. local time (9:40 a.m. CET). The motive for the attack is still unclear. According to witnesses quoted by the AFP agency, two men broke into the church where a mass was being held, attended by 35 to 40 people.
Homeless hero
“After the second shot, the weapon stopped working and the attackers ran away,” district mayor Şükrü Genç told reporters, adding that Polish Consul General Witold Lesńiak and his family were also in the church. According to authorities, no one was injured.
“We strongly condemn this heinous attack,” Yerlikaya wrote in a social media post. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families after the attack and said authorities had taken all measures to find the attackers. Erdogan spoke on the phone to the priest of the church.
Photo: Visit Istanbul
Santa Maria Church in Istanbul.
The Italian agency ANSA wrote that the victim appeared to be a homeless man with Turkish citizenship, whom authorities identified only by the initials CT. According to the press, the man died while confronting the attackers.
Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and offered help to the religious minorities in the city, where, like throughout Turkey, the majority of the population is Muslim. “There are no minorities in this city and in this country. “We are all real citizens,” he said, according to the AP. Pope Francis also expressed his “closeness” to the Catholic community in Istanbul.
We have completely updated the article.
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