Correspondents in Istanbul | July 10, 2008
THREE unidentified gunmen and three Turkish policemen were killed yesterday in an attack on a checkpoint outside the well-fortified US consulate in Istanbul that officials labelled a terrorist act.
The assailants "directly" targeted the police post outside the high-walled US consulate in the upmarket district of Istinye, Istanbul province Governor Muammer Guler said.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay called the gunmen "terrorists" and the investigation was handed to prosecutors specialising in terrorism cases.
The three assailants jumped from a car and opened fire at the police checkpoint around 11am local time, a witness told NTV television, adding that they also fired shots at the building.
Another witness, Yavuz Erkut Yuksel told CNN-Turk television the attackers surprised the guard. "One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in the head," he said. Police returned fire, killing all three gunmen. The shootout lasted about eight minutes.
One policeman died on the spot, while two others died of their wounds in hospital. Two other people -- a policeman and the civilian driver of a police truck -- were wounded.
No consulate personnel were injured, said a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Ankara, Kathy Schallow.
"We're co-operating with the police and taking the appropriate measures," she said.
Ambassador Ross Wilson said the attack was "an obvious act of terrorism" aimed at the US.
"This was an attack on an American diplomatic establishment. The persons who lost their lives are Turkish citizens and we are very sad about that," he said.
Istanbul prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said the attackers were armed with pistols and shotguns.
Forensic teams were seen examining a shotgun on the ground. The police post was situated outside a gate for visa applicants from where steep steps lead up to the fortified consulate building.
Television footage showed four people lying on the ground at the foot of the consulate's wall before officials removed the bodies, after rushing the wounded to hospital.
A car was driven by a fourth accomplice, who drove off after the attack. Security forces launched a major hunt for the vehicle and a police helicopter was flying over the area.
The car had waited at a nearby carwash before driving down towards the consulate, a witness said.
Investigators were trying to determine the identities of the assailants, who were aged between 25 and 30, Mr Engin said.
"We consider the incident a terrorist act," he said.
Two of the dead gunmen were Turkish nationals, while the police were still trying to establish the identity of the third, NTV quoted officials as saying.
The consulate was moved to its current high-security location in 2003 as foreign missions across the world stepped up security measures following the attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York.
The consulate occupies an imposing structure on a hill in Istinye, a residential neighbourhood.
A reporter for Associated Press who visited the consulate last week drove unimpeded past an entrance for the public and parked on a residential street two blocks away. The area directly in front of the entrance was kept clear of vehicles. Several guards stood in separate locations outside the entrance, but weapons were not on display. Turkish civilians seeking visas and other documents sat at cafes across the street.
The most recent attack on a foreign mission in Turkey was in 2003 when al-Qa'ida militants detonated a car bomb at the British consulate in central Istanbul, and simultaneously attacked the British HSBC bank.
The British consul was killed in the attacks, which followed the bombings five days earlier of two synagogues in Istanbul. About 60 people were killed in the four blasts, the deadliest terrorist attacks in Turkey.
AFP, AP
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