Cansiz pictured on left

The BBC has just released information about the shocking assassination of Sakine Cansiz and two other Kurdish women in Paris.

Three Kurdish women activists – including a co-founder of the militant nationalist PKK – have been found dead with gunshot wounds in a Kurdish information centre in Paris.

The bodies of Sakine Cansiz and two others were found on Thursday.

France and Turkey both condemned the killings.

The motive for the shootings is unclear. Some 40,000 people have died in the 25-year conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK.

However, Turkey has recently begun talks with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, with the aim of persuading the group to disarm.

“Rest assured that French authorities are determined to get to the bottom of these intolerable acts,” he said.

“I condemn this violence,” Turkish government spokesman Bulent Arinc told reporters. “This is utterly wrong. I express my condolences.”

The BBC’s James Reynolds in Turkey says two rival theories have emerged about the killings.

The deputy chairman of the ruling party, Husein Celik, said that the killings appeared to be the result of an internal Kurdish feud.

The theory was later picked up by other officials and commentators in the Turkish media, who suggested that PKK factions opposed to the talks were to blame.

But Kurdish activists said the killings were carried out by forces in the Turkish state itself who wanted to derail the talks.

Our correspondent says that in Turkey many believe that there is a so-called “deep state” – a powerful nationalistic establishment which seeks to undermine the work of democratic governments and activists.