Attack at US Istanbul consulate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7497049.stm
"Attack (*not an attack) at US Istanbul consulate
Aftermath of the attack (*not an attack. We haven't been attacked..) at
the US consulate in Istanbul"
(9 July 2008)
Turkey has seen armed attacks (*not an attack) from a variety of groups
over the years
Three policemen and three gunmen have died in an attack near the US
consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
The US ambassador to Turkey condemned it as "an obvious act of
terrorism" aimed at the US. No injuries were re****ted to staff inside
the consulate. Officials said the attackers' identity was unclear but
local media suggested they might be linked to al-Qaeda.
Another policeman and the driver of a police tow-truck were injured in
the ensuing gun battle, officials said.
After the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Wa****ngton, the
consulate was moved from the centre of Istanbul to a hill on the
outskirts in the north-eastern Istinye district.
It opened in 2003, and has checkpoints and barriers well away from the
main building.
No identification
Speaking at a news conference after the consulate attack, Istanbul
Governor Muammer Guler said one of the Turkish police officers had died
at the scene. The other two died of their wounds later, at a nearby
hospital.
Map
"There is no doubt that this was a terrorist attack," Mr Guler said.
The city governor said two of the dead attackers had been identified as
Turkish. He did not release any names and said he was unwilling to
speculate about who they might have been.
The US ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, told a news conference in
Ankara: "It is enough to say they are terrorists who carried out a
cowardly and dastardly attack."
He said the US and Turkey would "stand together in the fight against
international terrorism".
Turkish President Abdullah Gul also condemned such attacks, saying:
"Turkey will fight to the end against those who are behind them."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a visit to Tblisi, Georgia,
expressed "deep regret" for the loss of life and said the US appreciated
the rapid response of the Turkish authorities.
The EU's French presidency issued a statement condemning the attack "in
the strongest possible terms" and expressing its solidarity with the
Turkish and US governments.
Shotguns
A police source in Istanbul told the Associated Press that the
authorities suspect al-Qaeda was behind the attack. Local television
stations also said the gunmen were suspected al-Qaeda members.
One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in
the head
Yavuz Erkut Yuksel
'Three Germans seized' in Turkey
Television footage showed paramedics carrying out CPR on one person on
the ground outside the high-walled complex. Blood could be seen flowing
from the head of one of the three other men lying nearby.
Istanbul prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said the attackers had been armed
with pistols and shotguns.
The police are also looking for a fourth man, who was driving a grey
Ford Focus car that dropped off the gunmen outside the consulate and
left before the attack.
A witness, Yavuz Erkut Yuksel, said the attackers had initially emerged
from a car and surprised the police officers guarding the building.
"One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in
the head," he told CNN-Turk.
Enis Yilmaz, who was applying for a visa at the consulate, said there
had been four attackers, one of whom had escaped.
"Three of them got out of the car and fired at the police. I saw them
dead afterwards, lying on the ground and many more dead among the
police," he told the Reuters news agency.
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