At least 2 killed, 3 wounded in clashes in southeastern Turkey

Two people were killed in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey on Tuesday during protests triggered after an Islamic group leader was shot dead, according to private Dogan News Agency.

Aytac Baran, branch chairman of Islamist, Knowledge, Service and Cooperation Association (Ihya-Der) in Turkey's Diyarbakir province, was shot dead after leaving his office.

Ihya-Der is linked to the Islamist-Kurdish Free Cause Party (Huda-Par), which draws support from sympathizers of the Hizbullah militant group active in the 1990s.

Reports said after the death of Baran, a group of journalists gathered in front of the Ihya-Der building. Clashes broke out later when a group of unidentified men attacked the people in front of the Ihya-Der headquarter in Diyarbakir, leaving another person dead and three others wounded. Police dispersed the group by firing shots into the air.

The incident came just two days after the critical June 7 parliamentary elections in Turkey, in which the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) passed the 10 percent electoral threshold to enter the Turkish parliament for the first time.

The ruling Justice and Development Party could not reach majority in the parliament and is seeking to form a coalition government.

Last Friday three people were killed in two blasts at a HDP rally in Diyarbakir.

HDP supporter are mainly Kurdish grassroots and sympathizing the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has fought for independence against government forces for nearly 30 years. The insurgency battles have killed about 40,000 people.

Relations between supporters of the two Kurdish groups, the Islamist Huda-Par and the HDP, have remained tense. Endit