By Chris Morris in Ankara

Muslim clerics across Turkey used sermons during Friday prayers to condemn the activities of the radical Islamic group, Hezbollah, which is alleged to have organised the killing of 33 people whose bodies have been found over the last 10 days.

Many more bodies are missing. The religious authorities in Ankara ordered mosques across the country to preach a sermon devoted to the theme of tolerance.

The centrally-approved sermon emphasised that taking the lives of others is the greatest sin a Muslim can commit.

Terror, violence and anarchy, it said, have nothing to do with Islam.

All mosques in Turkey were brought under state control two years ago after the military expressed fears that some of them were being used by radical groups to attract new supporters.

Each week, the state-run religious affairs directorate issues an order about the appropriate topic of the weekly sermon.

Buried alive

Tolerance seemed like a good theme after a series of horrific discoveries in the last few days - the tortured bodies of alleged victims of the radical group, Hezbollah, which aims to set up a strict Islamic state in Turkey.

Some of the bodies had been buried alive and the police say they may find many more.

Nearly a thousand people have been taken into custody since the nationwide police operation against Hezbollah began.

The semi-official Anatolia news agency says police discovered hundreds of guns in a series of hideouts on Friday in the south-eastern province of Batman.

The south-east was where Hezbollah first emerged in the 1980s and there is strong evidence to suggest that it was supported by elements within the state in the fight against the Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK.