The far-left, and outlawed, Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army Front on its internet site to be behind the attack.
Advertisement
Earlier, three police officers and seven civilians were injured following the explosion at a police station in the Sultanbeyli area of the city, according to Turkish media. Less than six hours later, two assailants and one police officer were killed at a gunfight that erupted when the station drew fire. Turkey said it killed hundreds of PKK members in scores of domestic and cross-border strikes, including its headquarters and camps in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq.
One resident who witnessed the attack told Reuters that one of the assailants fired four or five rounds, targeting security officials and consulate employees. Photos of Asik had been distributed to security units throughout the country after it was claimed that she had plans to commit a suicide attack on the Turkish Ministry of Justice in September of this year.
Another police officer was killed after Kurdish militants opened fire on a military helicopter.
The attacks come just weeks after Turkey began cracking down on Kurdish militants and it follows Ankara’s agreement to cooperate more closely with the US to fight the self-described Islamic State. The group, which wants to set up a socialist state in Turkey, advocates a Marxist-Leninist ideology and opposes the U.S. and Turkish governments, as well as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Two militants were killed in the clashes as well as the suicide bomber, the governor’s office added.
Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned the attack and said security at US diplomatic missions was being tightened.
No one else was injured in the onslaught.
Still, they compounded the jitters of Istanbul’s 14 million people on a day when the U.S. Consulate in the Sariyer district also was hit by gunfire.
Authorities have also arrested more than 1,300 suspects since last month in police raids nationwide targeting suspected PKK and IS members as well as the DHKP-C.
Advertisement
Turkey’s largest city Istanbul has been shaken by twin attacks on the United States consulate and a police station as tensions rise amid the government’s air campaign against Kurdish militants. The DHKP-C and the PKK both have Marxist origins and have co-operated in the past, though there was no immediate indication of PKK involvement in this attack. Zubeyir Aydar of the Kurdistan Communities Union, who organized the march, accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of breaking a truce with the Kurds that had held since 2013. An unknown number of people have been killed in the airstrikes in Iraq.
