Turkish crowd tries to lynch alleged rapist

Turkish soldiers and police on Monday fired warning shots into the air to prevent an angry crowd from lynching a man accused of raping several girls and killing two of them in southeastern Turkey. The crowd attacked the state hospital and broke its windows in a bid to lynch the suspect in the southeastern city of Sirnak, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported. The man was brought to hospital after being reportedly beaten up by fellow inmates. The man, captured two weeks ago, has reportedly confessed to killing a girl in 1999 and raping and killing another one earlier this year. The suspect who is on trial was also accused of raping six other girls in the province, bordering Iraq.