Suspect killed, 2 detained after gunmen, police trade fire in Istanbul

by · UPI

April 7 (UPI) -- One man was killed and two others were "neutralized" on Tuesday after gunmen exchanged fire with police near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkish authorities said.

Two police officers were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and two suspects were undergoing questioning in custody, the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.

The ministry said the deceased gunman was "connected to a terrorist organisation that exploits religion," while the other two were siblings.

"Three individuals who engaged in an armed clash with our police officers on duty in front of the Yapı Kredi Plaza Blocks in Istanbul have been neutralized. In the clash, two of our heroic police officers sustained minor injuries. The identities of the terrorists have been identified," Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said in a statement.

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"It has been determined that the individuals, who arrived in Istanbul by a rental vehicle from Izmit, include one with ties to an organization that exploits religion; and it has also been established that one of the two terrorists, who are brothers, has a drug record," Ciftci added.

Video circulating online showed two police officers with pistols drawn taking cover behind a police car and parked cars as dozens of loud gunshots in rapid succession are heard a little way off.

An eyewitness reported that the shooting started after three people arrived in a car and that security officers returned fire.

Authorities declined to identify the organization implicated, but local media posited the most likely party was Islamic State, given the rounding up of more than 350 suspected members in December raids across the country as part of a national crackdown against ISIS.

Three police officers were killed and nine were injured in an eight-hour siege in Yalova, 50 miles southeast of Istanbul, in which six suspects also died.

Israel's foreign ministry said Tuesday it was aware of reports of an incident but confirmed no staff were at the site, which is in a multi-occupancy building in a business district in the north of the city.

"We appreciate the Turkish security forces' swift action in thwarting this attack. Israeli missions around the world have been subjected to countless threats and terrorist attacks. Terror will not deter us," the ministry said in a statement.

Most Israeli government offices, educational institutions and businesses are shut through Thursday for the 8-day Jewish Passover holiday.

However, a local journalist told CNN that the consulate had not been operational for the past two-and-a-half years.

Decades of good relations between Jerusalem and Ankara soured over the first and then second Gaza wars with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerging as a vocal critic of Israel, although the two countries have not ended their security intelligence relationship.

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