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Terror Attack on US Consulate

Six Dead in Gun Battle in Istanbul

At least six people have been killed in a gun battle outside the US Consulate in Istanbul. The city's governor says three of those who died were attackers, the others were police officers. The hunt is now on for a fourth assailant.

At least six people have been killed in a gun battle outside the US Consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday. According to the city's governor the dead include three police officers and three gunmen.

Governor Muammar Guler told reporters that one of the police officers had died at the scene, while the other two died of their wounds later in hospital. "There is no doubt that this was a terrorist attack," Guler said.

Two other people, a policeman and the driver of a towing vehicle, were also injured. Turkish TV showed images of paramedics trying to save the life of one those lying on the ground.

An eyewitness, Enis Yilmaz, said that a car approached with four assailants. "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." Ulus Durgut, who had been on his way to the heavily guarded compound in the Istinye district of Istanbul, told Reuters that the gun battle lasted 15 minutes. "The terrorists were bearded and had long hair," he said.

Broadcaster CNN Turk reported that one of the assailants had a Syrian passport. However, Governor Guler said the police were still working on identifying the attackers and are now hunting the driver of the vehicle, who escaped after the assault.

Mutlu Gunes, a 13-year-old who had been on his way to a mosque, said he had seen several men preparing guns and placing them inside a Ford Focus before approaching the consulate. "One of them shot a policemen in the chest, and I saw one terrorist killing himself after being shot by police," he told reporters.

A US Embassy spokeswoman said there were no reports of any casualties among the consulate's American employees. "At about 11 a.m., at least one assailant opened fire on the Turkish police guardpost area near the main entrance to the consulate," she told the Associated Press. "We're cooperating with the police and taking the appropriate measures."

The US ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, told the Associated Press that security around US diplomatic missions in Turkey have now been increased in response to the attack.

Turkey is no stranger to terror attacks. In November 2003 Islamist militants with links to al-Qaida carried out suicide bombings on two synagogues, a British bank and the British Consulate in Istanbul, killing 58 people. In June 2004 four people were killed and 15 wounded in a bomb blast in Istanbul just before US President George W. Bush was due to arrive in the city.

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, three German tourists were reportly kidnapped by Kurdish guerrillas in eastern Turkey. They had been part of a 13-person climbing team that had planned to scale Mount Arat.

The governor of the Agri province, Mehmet Cetin, told the state-run Anatolian News Agency that the climbers had arrived in the region three days ago and had established a camp at a height of 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) on the mountain. Five PKK militants approached the camp and kidnapped three of the group, he said. "The terrorists said they carried out this action because of the German government's recent moves against PKK associations and sympathisers," Cetin told the agency.

smd/ap/reuters