Three gunmen opened fire at the police guard post at the main entrance of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. According to the witnesses, police officers Erdal Öztaş, Mehmet Önder Saçaklıoğlu and Nedim Çalık were killed and another police officer was injured in the shootout. The three gunmen were also killed.
The assailants are identified as Erkan Kargın (26), resident of Bitlis in Eastern Turkey, Bülent Çınar and Raif Topcıl (20), born in Bitlis.
According to CNNTürk’ report based on Doğan News Agency, Istanbul police announced that they had two person in custody in connection with the incident.
Authorities suspect El-Kaide is behind the shooting.
Istanbul governor Muammer Güler told they determined the identities of the two assailants; they are from Turkey.
According to what the witnesses told NTV, three gunmen, who got out of a white Doblo, opened fire at the police guard post in front of the U.S. Consulate, there was a shootout between the police officers and the assailants for seven, eight minutes, and the fourth assailant, who seemed to be driving the car, managed to get away.
According to another witness, a gray Ford Focus arrived at the car wash place fifteen minutes before the attack with four people in it. The witness remembers seeing their guns, how they approached the guard post and started shooting at the same time. Later, three of the assailants got out of the car and continude shooting at the guard post.
Interior Minister Beşir Atalay declined from giving more information about the political identity of the assailants, whether or not they were from the terror organization İBDA-C, at this point in order to protect the investigation.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a meeting with the undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). President Abdullah Gül condemned the shootout as a terrorist act.
The U.S. ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson described the attack on Istanbul consulate as a terrorist attack against the U.S. consulate and the Turkish police officers.
Wilson said the security personnel from both countries were working together to uncover the details of the attack. Regarding whether the incident could be linked to Ergenekon, Wilson said they did not have any information that could be used to show there was such a connection.
Istanbul governor Muammer Güler announced that the three police officers, two of whom were traffic cops, were killed.
Istanbul Public Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin reached the opinion, after his crime scene investigation, that the assailants were 25-30 years old, used guns and pump rifles, and the way it happened was indicative of a terrorist attack. (NZ/TB).
