For the time being, nothing is known about the motives, all that is certain is that one person lost his life, and state officials condemned the attack in a harsh message.

Two armed men covering their faces with masks attacked worshipers during mass in the Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary in the Sariyer district of Istanbul on Sunday, killing one person, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media site X.

Yerlikaya announced during the evening that the two suspects had been arrested, but did not mention the possible motive for what happened, nor who the perpetrators were.

Not long before, the Islamic State announced itself as the perpetrator of the attack on its Telegram channel, saying that the attack was carried out in response to a call by the leaders of the terrorist organization to attack Jews and Christians.

The Turkish Minister of the Interior announced during the day that the target of the "disgraceful attack" was one of the participants of the ceremony, who died on the spot.

Yerlikaya later said that the victim was a Turkish citizen.

Gunmen fired shots into the air and the man was reportedly shot when he stood up to protest.

Video recordings taken at the scene show that several ambulances and police cars arrived at the building. In one of the recordings published by the DHA news agency, the perpetrators dressed in black and with masks could be seen slowly approaching the church.

Istanbul Governor Davut Gül announced that there were no other casualties in the attack.

The police set up roadblocks at the city's traffic junctions and carried out increased checks.

During the Sunday prayer, Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the community of believers of the Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul.

After the incident, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences by telephone to the priest of the church and to the local representatives of the ruling party.

Yerlikaya visited the site in the afternoon and declared that they will not allow anyone to destroy the unity of Turkey.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu also condemned the attack.

MTI

Cover image: St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in the Sariyer district of Istanbul
Source: Google Street View