An office of the Kurdish Institute of Paris was attacked by unknown people in the French capital Paris late yesterday, resulting in the deaths of three women, including one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Hurriyetdailynews reported.
Sakine Cansız, one of the PKK founders in 1978, Kurdistan National Congress' (KNK) Paris representative Fidan Doğan, and Leyla Soylemez were found dead in the office, located near Gare du Nord station.
The women were alone in the office at noon yesterday, the Kurdish association representative Leod Edart said, daily Le Parisien has reported. Their bodies were discovered at around 01:30-02:00 a.m. this morning.
French police have launched an investigation into the incident.
The three women were all found shot in the head, but the investigation will unveil further details, according to a police source.
The French Interior Minister, Manuel Valls, is reportedly on the way to the crime scene.
Reactions following attack
"This seems like an internal feud, we have seen these sort of incidents before," ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Huseyin Celik said in a statement.
"There may be some people who want to derail this process, we should be extremely careful," he added, referring to the ongoing peace talks between Turkish authorities and Kurdish representatives.
The PKK's Europe representative and executive council member of Kurdistan Communities Union's (KCK) Zubeyir Aydar also said the attack was in response to the talks, in a statement to the Rudaw news portal.
"These attacks are oriented against the talks between İmralı [imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan] and the Turkish government ... This attack was executed by dark forces against the new process," Aydar said, claiming that "dark forces" came from within the Turkish state.