Violence in Turkey as assailants opened fire at the US consulate building on Monday just hours after a a bomb attack on a police station in Istanbul.
According to reports at least six members of the Turkish security forces were killed in attacks in the country’s south-east and Istanbul.
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The BBC report: Four police officers were killed by a bomb on a road in Sirnak province and shortly after, gunmen opened fire on a military helicopter, killing a soldier.
Tension between the Turkish government and Kurdish militants has been rising.
One of the Istanbul attacks, on the US consulate, was carried out by two women and linked to a far-left group.
One of the female assailants in Monday’s attack was wounded and detained, and a rifle and other weaponry were seized, Istanbul’s governor said in a statement.
She is said to be a member of a radical Marxist group, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front (DHKP-C).
The DHKP-C previously claimed a 2013 suicide attack on the US embassy in the capital, Ankara.
The US consulate said in a tweet that it was closed until further notice.
In the other attack in Istanbul, on a police station in the district of Sultanbeyli, a car bomb was detonated, injuring 10 people, including three police officers.
Two suspected militants were killed in ensuing clashes with police and an injured police officer died later in hospital, reports say.
PKK conflict
Following the attack on the military helicopter in Sirnak province, Turkish helicopters bombed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in retaliation.
A ceasefire in the long-running conflict with the group appeared to disintegrate in July, when Turkey began bombing PKK camps in northern Iraq, at the same time as launching air strikes on IS militants.
PKK leader Cemil Bayik has accused Turkey of trying to protect IS by attacking Kurdish fighters.
“They are doing it to limit the PKK’s fight against IS. Turkey is protecting IS,” he told the BBC in an interview.
Kurdish fighters – among them the PKK – have secured significant victories against IS militants in Syria and Iraq.
But Turkey, like a number of Western countries, considers the PKK a terrorist organisation.
Turkey has been carrying out attacks against PPK rebels ever since it made a sudden U-turn in policy against ISIS and allowed Washington to use its air bases to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State. On Sunday Washington deployed six fighter jets to Turkeys Incirlik air base.
Niamh Harris
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