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Thomas Samson / AFP - Getty Images
Members of France's Kurdish community gather on Thursday while two men, seen left, carry the body of one of the three women slain in Paris.
PARIS - Three Kurdish women were shot dead in Paris in killings that appeared politically motivated, police and other sources said Thursday.
The bodies of the women were found at the Information Center of Kurdistan, a police source said. The center has close links to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK, said another victim was the Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress political group.
"There is no doubt this was politically motivated," center employee Berivan Akyol told French broadcaster iTele.
The PKK has waged a 28-year insurgency against the Turkish state in which more than 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed.
The Turkish government has recently acknowledged holding talks with the organization's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
They have agreed a framework for a peace plan, according to Turkish media reports.
'Executed'
Firat reported that two of those killed were shot in the head and one in the stomach, and that the murder weapon was believed to have been fitted with a silencer.
"A couple of colleagues saw blood stains at the door. When they broke the door open and entered they saw the three women had been executed," French Kurdish Associations Federation Chairman Mehmet Ulker was quoted as saying by Firat.
Turkish broadcasters cited police as saying the women had links to the PKK.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group the United States, Turkey and European Union.
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