Turkish police detain 5 more people in deadly attack on Christian publishing house

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Malatya, April. 19(AP): Police detained five more people on Thursday in connection with an attack on a Christian publishing house that killed three employees, doubling the number of suspects in custody, a Turkish official said.

One group of suspects detained in the slayings on Wednesday at the Zirve publishing house that distributes Bibles told investigators they carried out the killings to protect Islam, a Turkish newspaper reported.

The three victims _ a German and two Turkish citizens _ were found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit. The victims had bruises on their faces and cuts on their wrists from where they had been tied up, but there was no sign that they had been tortured, a morgue official said.

The attack added to concerns in Europe about whether this predominantly Muslim country _ which is bidding for European Union membership _ can protect its religious minorities. It also underlined concerns about rising Turkish nationalism and hostility toward non-Muslims.

``We didn't do this for ourselves, but for our religion,'' Hurriyet newspaper quoted an unnamed suspect as saying. ``Our religion is being destroyed. Let this be a lesson to enemies of our religion.''

Local media said the suspects, all students, were staying at a hostel of an Islamic foundation.

On Wednesday, police detained four youths, aged 19-20, as well as a fifth who underwent surgery for head injuries after he apparently tried to escape by jumping from a window in the central city of Malatya. Five other suspects, detained on Thursday, were of the same age as those taking into custody on the day of the attack, Gov. Halil Ibrahim Dasoz said. It was not clear if they had been at the scene of the attack.

The five suspects detained Wednesday had each been carrying copies of a letter that read: ``We five are brothers. We are going to our deaths. We may not return,'' the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

``Nothing can excuse such an attack that comes at a time of great need for peace, brotherhood and tolerance,'' outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the attack as ``savagery.''

Presidential elections will be held next month, a contest that highlights fears among Turkey's secular establishment that a candidate from Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party, or even Erdogan himself, could win the job and strengthen Islamic influence on the government. Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of pro-secular protesters demonstrated in the capital, Ankara. Erdogan has rejected the label of ``Islamist,'' citing his commitment to the EU bid.

A large Turkish flag hung from one of the windows of the four-story students' residence where five of the suspects lived. The curtains were drawn and the door was locked. A man came out of the building and told journalists to go away, saying the students were stressed and needed to study.

The German and one of the Turkish victims were found dead, and the third victim died in a hospital. The German man, identified as 46-year-old Tilman Ekkehart Geske, had been living in Malatya since 2003. His family wanted to bury him in Malatya.

It was the latest in a string of attacks on Turkey's Christian community _ which comprises less than 1 percent of the 70-million population.

In February 2006, a Turkish teenager shot a Catholic priest dead as he prayed in his church, and two other Catholic priests were attacked later that year. A November visit by Pope Benedict XVI was greeted by several peaceful protests. Earlier this year, a suspected nationalist killed Armenian Christian editor Hrant Dink.

Authorities had vowed to deal with extremist attacks after Dink's murder, but Wednesday's assault showed the violence was not slowing down.

``The killing is a result of provocations in Turkey against minorities,'' said Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a lawyer for one of the victims, Necati Aydin. Cengiz said he defended Aydin seven years ago, when he was arrested for selling Bibles and accused of insulting Islam. Aydin spent a month in police custody and took his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Vatican's envoy to Turkey, Monsignor Antonio Lucibello, told Italian daily Il Messaggero that he thought the attack was a ``sporadic event.''

``We will keep up our work the way we always have, with confidence in the authorities and in the society. We are not afraid, I'm not afraid,'' he said.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi, speaking from South Korea during a state visit, told the ANSA news agency that while the attack ``certainly does not help'' Turkey's EU bid, ``tragedies like this should not influence'' the decision as there are ``political guidelines that are looking at long-term prospects.''

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat Party _ which opposes Turkey's bid to join the EU _ said the attacks showed the country's shortcomings in protecting religious freedoms.

Turkey which opened EU membership negotiations in 2005 is under intense pressure to improve human rights and to expand religious freedoms and free speech.