ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish official says a prominent lawyer, who faced a prison term on charges of supporting Turkey's Kurdish rebels, has been killed in attack.

Firat Anli, mayor of Diyarbakir city, said Tahir Elci was shot on Saturday while he was making a press statement.

Elci, the head of the bar association in the mainly Kurdish city, was detained last month for saying during a live news program that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is not a terrorist organization.

A Turkish prosecutor was seeking more than 7 years in prison for Elci on charges of making terrorist propaganda.