One attacker was killed and two others were wounded in an extended gun battle with police outside the building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, according to authorities and Reuters witnesses.
Police officers pulled out guns and took cover as shots rang out for at least 10 minutes near a permanent security checkpoint. One person was seen covered in blood amid the glass towers in the heart of the city’s main financial district.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed an apparent attacker, in a dark top and carrying a backpack, moving among parked white police and security buses and firing with an automatic rifle and a handgun. Two bodies lay on nearby streets and parking areas, near grassy areas.
The three attackers had links to an organisation that “exploits religion”, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said, adding that two of them were brothers. Two police officers were lightly wounded in the attack, Istanbul Governor Davut Gul told reporters at the scene.