ANKARA, Turkey - Five clerics from Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) were shot dead after a heated argument broke out between the imams in the country’s eastern province. 

According to the country’s Demiroren News Agency and the online news outlet Gazete Duvar, the clerics were engaged in a heated argument at a town hall in the Tercan district in the country’s Erzincan province.

In the middle of the argument, the clerics suffered an armed assault, which left five of the clerics dead, following which, the assailant reportedly committed suicide too.

According to the report, the local administration of Tercan district convened for an ordinary monthly meeting on Friday and were engaged in a heated debate over an annual leave request by an employee. 

The employee of the mufti’s office who has been identified as Fatih A., whose leave application was being discussed, then stormed into the meeting hall with a gun and opened fire. 

The police noted that Imam Rasim Kılıç and preacher Ersin KaÄŸan died on the scene and five other imams were injured in the attack. 

Officials added that those injured were rushed to the hospital and the assailant was nabbed.

However, the attacker shot himself with the same gun and died on the spot. 

Hours later, three more imams that had been hospitalized, succumbed to their injuries. 

Speaking to the local news agency, the Erzincan Deputy Governor Musa BaÅŸtürk said that the gunman had “psychological problems.”

He added that two other imams that were injured were still undergoing treatment and were in a critical condition.

The police said that an investigation was currently ongoing.