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US consulate targeted as Turkey hit by multiple attacks Two Marxist women open fire at US consulate in Istanbul
(about 2 hours later)
At least eight people have died in a wave of attacks in Turkey, weeks after Ankara launched a crackdown on Islamic State and Kurdish and far-left militants. Two women from a banned Marxist group opened fire at the US consulate in Istanbul on Monday, in the latest of a wave of attacks to hit Turkey following its decision to step up military action against Islamic State (Isis).
The Nato member has been in a heightened state of alert since starting its “synchronised war on terror” last month, including air strikes against Isis fighters in Syria and Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. It has also rounded up hundreds of suspected militants at home. The assailants set off a gunfight with police before fleeing the scene, Turkish media reported. One of them – 51-year-old Hatice As ik– was captured hiding in a nearby building and taken to hospital. A second female suspect escaped. No one else was injured.
In Istanbul, two women opened fire outside the US consulate building. One suspect was arrested. According to Turkish news agencies, citing police sources, Asik is a member of the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. In 2013 the group carried out a suicide attack on the US embassy in Ankara that killed a security guard.
The far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), which is virulently anti-American and listed as a terror organisation by the US and Turkey, claimed responsibility. The group said in a statement that Asik was a “people’s warrior” and confirmed she had been arrested. “Our struggle will continue until imperialism and its collaborators leave our country and every parcel of our homeland is cleared of US bases,” it said.
The Doğan news agency said the arrested suspect is aged 51 and has served prison time for being a suspected member of the DHKP-C. The US embassy said US officials were working with Turkish authorities to investigate the incident. The consulate would remain closed to the public until further notice, it said.
On the other side of the city, a vehicle laden with explosives was used in an attack on a police station, injuring three police officers and seven civilians, police said. Police wearing flak jackets and holding machine guns blocked off streets leading to the consulate. The building, which is surrounded by fortified walls, was intact and its flag was flying.
One of the attackers was killed during the bombing, while two others and a police officer died in a subsequent firefight, the Istanbul governor’s office said. Broadcaster CNN Turk said the officer was a senior member of the bomb squad who had been sent to investigate the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The attack follows the overnight bombing of an Istanbul police station and further unrest in other parts of the country. A total of eight people were killed nationwide.
In Turkey’s south-eastern Sirnak province, four police officers were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by roadside explosives in the town of Silopi. The car bomb in the Sultanbeyli district police station injured three officers and seven civilians and caused a fire that caused part of the three-storey building to collapse. Unknown gunmen then fired on police inspecting the scene of the explosion, sparking a shootout. A member of the inspection team and two assailants died in the exchanges.
A soldier was also killed when Kurdish militants opened fire on a military helicopter in a separate attack in Sirnak, the military said in a statement. Security sources said at least seven other soldiers were wounded in the attack, which came as the helicopter took off. The wave of attacks follows a recent escalation by Ankara of its campaign against Isis militants. The government also agreed to allow the US-led coalition targeting Isis in neighbouring Syria to use Turkish airbases. Over the weekend a detachment of six F-16 fighter jets arrived at Turkey’s southern Incirlik air base, the US military confirmed.
Last month Turkey conducted aerial strikes against Isis positions in Syria and agreed to let the US-led coalition use its bases for its fight against the militants. This followed a suicide bombing blamed on Isis which killed 32 people and after Isis militants fired at Turkish soldiers from across the border in Syria, killing one soldier. Last month Ankara conducted aerial strikes against Isis positions in Syria. It also bombed camps in northern Iraq belonging to rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK. The raids set off a sharp spike in violence between security forces and PKK militants inside Turkey.
On Monday Ege Seçkin, a Turkish analyst with IHS in London, said he was not surprised the far left group had attacked the US consulate building.
“It’s very convenient. If you were to think of two or three likely targets for the DHKP-C the consulate would be one of them. The shooting sends a message: that they are still very active and have a capacity to strike,” he said.
According to Seçkin, it is Turkey’s military intervention in Syria that is driving this latest round of turmoil across the country. He said that the the DHKP-C – mainly based in Istanbul and Ankara – has close unofficial ties with the Syrian regime in Damascus. The PKK has a similar Marxist ideology but is entirely separate from it, he said.
Related: The Guardian view on Turkey’s air strikes against Isis: dangerous territory | EditorialRelated: The Guardian view on Turkey’s air strikes against Isis: dangerous territory | Editorial
Casting the operations as a war on terrorist groups “without distinction”, it simultaneously launched air strikes on PKK targets in Iraq and in south-eastern Turkey, and has arrested more than 1,300 people suspected of links to Islamist, Kurdish and far-left groups in recent weeks. Turkey was now embroiled in a “two-front war” against the PKK and Isis, Seçkin said, with its show of force against Isis largely symbolic. Ankara’s main priority was to weaken Kurdish rebels, he suggested. “Turkey is trying to further its interests across the region,” he said. “This includes toppling Assad and consolidating control in the northern part of Syria.”
On Sunday, the US military announced that a detachment of six F-16 fighter jets had arrived at Turkey’s southern Incirlik air base. He added: “Assad’s regime has to come up with some kind of a response.”
Also on Monday a roadside bomb killed four police officers in Şırnak’s Silopi district, the private Dogan news agency said.
In Şırnak province Kurdish rebels opened fire on a Turkish military helicopter just as it was taking off. At least one soldier was killed and seven others injured, security sources told Reuters. The helicopter was ferrying Turkish conscripts who had finished their tour of duty or were taking leave.
Last month Turkey carried out a major security sweep, detaining 1,300 people suspected of links to terrorist organisations, including the DHKP-C as well as Isis and the PKK.