Kurds slain in Paris shot repeatedly in head

Three female Kurdish activists killed in Paris all received at least three bullets in the head, judicial sources said Friday, giving further credence to the theory they were victims of an execution-style hit. Autopsies on the bodies revealed that one of the women had been shot four times in the head and the two others shot three times, the sources said. One of them, Sakine Cansiz, was a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which took up arms in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey. The other two were also Kurdish activists. The killings came days after Turkish media reported Turkey and the PKK leadership had reached a roadmap to end the three-decade old insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community. Experts have suggested a number of potential motives for the killings, including an attack by Turkish extremists and internal feuding within the PKK. A judicial source said police are currently running 21 investigations into potentially illegally fundraising by the PKK. The PKK raises funds through a "revolutionary tax" on Kurdish expatriates that authorities in several countries have condemned as extortion.