(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Two women shot at the US consulate in Istanbul yesterday and at least nine people were killed in a wave of separate attacks on Turkish security forces, weeks after Ankara launched a crackdown on Islamic State, Kurdish and far-left militants.
A far-left group that killed a Turkish security guard in a 2013 suicide bombing of the US embassy in Ankara claimed it was involved in yesterday's attack. The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and Turkey, said one of its members was involved, and called Washington the "arch enemy" of the people of the Middle East and the world.
Turkey's foreign ministry condemned the attack and said security at US diplomatic missions was being tightened. Police with automatic rifles cordoned off streets around the US consulate in the Sariyer district on the European side of Istanbul.
Ahmet Akcay, a resident who witnessed the attack, said that one of the women fired four or five rounds, aiming at security officials and consulate officers. "Police were shouting 'drop your bag, drop your bag'. And the woman was saying: 'I will not surrender'," Akcay said. "The police warned her again: 'Drop your bag or we will have to shoot you', and the woman said: 'Shoot.'"
One of the two women was later captured wounded, the Istanbul governor's office said. The Dogan news agency said the injured woman was aged 51 and had served prison time for being a suspected member of the DHKP-C. No US personnel were injured and the consulate will be open for business today, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in Washington.
On the other side of Istanbul, a vehicle laden with explosives was used to attack a police station, injuring three police officers and seven civilians, police said.
Violence between the security forces and suspected militants intensified in the mainly Kurdish southeast yesterday. Four police officers were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by roadside explosives in the town of Silopi, the governor's office in the province of Sirnak said.
A soldier was also killed when Kurdish militants opened fire on a military helicopter in a separate attack in Sirnak.
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