An Italian Catholic priest has been shot dead outside his church in north-east Turkey. Police in the Black Sea port of Trabzon said they were searching for a teenage boy seen fleeing from the scene of the attack on Sunday. It was unclear if the shooting was connected to widespread Muslim outrage over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Turkish broadcaster NTV identified the priest as Andrea Santore and said he died from a single shot to the chest.
Turkey has seen regular protests in recent days over the Danish caricatures of Muhammad. Leaders of the overwhelmingly Muslim country have condemned the pictures, but have also called for calm. The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, and other non-Muslim clerics in Turkey have also criticised the images.
Several Italian newspapers have reprinted the pictures, saying they are defending freedom of expression. |