Following Turkey entering into the war with the PKK and ISIL groups, a series of terrorist attacks have shaken the country. While, until now, the assailants have mainly targeted the Turkish Armed Forces, attackers have today opened fire on the US consulate in Istanbul.
Two attackers reportedly shot at the consulate in the early hours of Monday morning, engaging in the shootout with guards protecting the building.
After the brief encounter, one female terrorist was wounded and the other member of the assault team fled the scene following the arrival of the police reinforcements. The search for the escaped terrorist is still continuing.
The police have managed to capture the wounded female and seize her weapons, including a rifle and explosives.
The government is yet to make a statement concerning the possible suspect of the attack, but some security sources indicate that the perpetrators might come from the radical Marxist group DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party–Front), which is notorious for its attacks on the US objects in Turkey.
The group was previously responsible for the 1 February 2013 attack on the US embassy in Ankara, during which a member of security was killed.
The US consulate in Istanbul was, prior to this attack, the target of an alleged al-Qaeda assault on 9 July 2008, when six people lost their lives.
At the same time as the attack on the consulate, a massive car bomb explosion hit the police station in the Sultanbeyli district, wounding ten people including three police officers. One of them died from his injuries in hospital. During the ensuing clashes with police, two alleged militants were killed.
It is still not known whether these two attacks were linked and whether they were perpetrated by the same group.
Update: The responsibility for the attack on the US consulate was claimed by DHKP-C in a statement made on their website. In their statement, the group glorifies its captured member Hatice Aşık and promises further strikes against “American imperialism”. The message states:
We will continue to hold you responsible for every drop of blood shed by the United States.
To our people and all the world’s people that you did evil, we promise, we will hold you accountable for the massacres.
Down with American imperialism and the collaborators! Long live the struggle of the people!
People’s Liberation honor our warriors!
