Pair died in standoff following attack in which shots were fired and grenade thrown at vehicle in Turkish city

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Two women who fired shots and threw a grenade at a bus carrying riot police in Istanbul have been killed, according to local media and the city governor.

Two police officers were slightly injured, Vasip Sahin said. He added that an investigation was under way into the attack, which was claimed by the radical leftist militant group DHKP-C. The group has staged similar attacks on police stations, largely in Istanbul’s suburbs.

One of the women threw a grenade and the other opened fire with what appeared to be a machine gun as the bus headed towards the entrance of a police station in the Bayrampaşa district of the city, footage from Dogan news agency showed.



Police returned fire, injuring one of the women, before tracking them to a nearby building, CNN Türk said.

Special forces units and police surrounded the building, leading to an hour-long standoff in which there was sporadic gunfire.

Attacks on Turkey’s security forces have increased since a ceasefire between Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) militants and the state collapsed in July.

The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU, launched a separatist armed rebellion against the Turkish state more than three decades ago. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have since been killed.

Turkey has also become a target for Islamic State militants, who are blamed for three suicide bombings – one in Suruç near the Syrian border, one in the capital, Ankara, and one in Istanbul in January. More than 140 people were killed in those attacks.

A suicide car bombing targeting military buses in Ankara killed 29 people last month. The government said it was carried out by a member of YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia, with help from PKK militants.