ISTANBUL // Two assailants opened fire at the US Consulate building in Istanbul on Monday, touching off a gunfight with police before fleeing the scene.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said police later caught one person in connection with the attack.
The private Dogan news agency said one of the assailants — a woman — was injured in the crossfire and was captured inside a nearby building where she hid.
No one else was injured in the onslaught.
Hours earlier an overnight bomb attack at a police station in Istanbul injured three policemen and seven civilians and caused a fire that collapsed part of the three-story building.
Police said the assailants exploded a car bomb near the station. Unknown assailants later fired on police inspecting the scene of the explosion, sparking another gunfight with police that killed a member of the police inspection team and two assailants.
The attacks come at a time of a sharp spike in violence between Turkey’s security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Turkey is also taking a more active role against ISIL. Last month it conducted aerial strikes against militant positions in Syria and agreed to let the US-led coalition use its bases for its fight against ISIL.
The move followed a suicide bombing blamed on ISIL which killed 32 people and militants firing at Turkish soldiers from across the border in Syria, killing one soldier.
On Sunday, the US military announced that a dispatch of six F-16 fighter jets and some 300 personnel have arrived at Turkey’s southern Incirlik Air Base to join the fight against ISIL.
Last month, Turkey carried out a major security sweep, detaining some 1,300 people suspected of links to terror organisations, including the PKK, ISIL and the banned far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C.
In 2013, a suicide bombing at the US Embassy in Ankara killed a Turkish security guard and injured one other person. The DHKP-C claimed responsibility for the attack.
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.
Police wearing flak jackets and holding machine guns blocked off streets leading to the consulate. The building however, was intact and its flag was flying.
* Associated Press
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