PKK slayings inside job, Erdogan says

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ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The killing of three leading members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party in Paris may have been an inside job, the Turkish prime minister said Friday.

French authorities said three women were "executed" this week at the Kurdistan Information Center in Paris, reports Radio France Internationale. Two of the women were shot in the neck, while a third was shot in the stomach and forehead. One of the victims, Sakine Cansiz, was a co-founder of the separatist movement, known by its Kurdish initials PKK.

The three women were said to be alone in the center before the shootings.

The PKK has been waging a militant campaign against the Turkish government since the 1980s. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.

The killings came as Ankara resumes efforts to resolve the ongoing Kurdish issue by reaching out to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday there were "interesting" details that have emerged from the French investigation into the Wednesday incident, daily newspaper Today's Zaman reports.

He said investigators found the bodies in a room that was locked from the inside.

"They opened the door to someone they knew," Erdogan said.

The Turkish newspaper reports that PKK hard-liner Fehman Huseyin, a Syrian, was overheard asking for new militant attacks. He allegedly added that peace talks between Ankara and the movement were part of a "game" against the PKK.

A move to settle issues with the Kurdish minority was upended in 2009 when a court banned the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party from politics because of alleged ties to the PKK.