Taranci, who worked for the leftist weekly Gercek, was attacked, shot, and killed, by two or three unidentified individuals on a street in Diyarbakir. One assailant grabbed Taranci by the shoulder, shot him three times in the head, and continued firing after the journalist fell to the ground. Before his murder, Taranci reportedly received a death threat by telephone. Gercek had reported on the Shi’ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, which some speculated was collaborating with the state in its fight against the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and PKK sympathizers.