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A gunfight with police outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, left one attacker dead, two others injured and two police officers sustaining minor injuries.
The armed attackers had ties to an activist group that “exploits religion,” according to Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci on X.
“The identities of the terrorists have been identified,” he wrote in a post translated by X. “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.”
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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack condemned the attack and praised Turkish authorities.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms today’s attack on the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul,” Barrack wrote on X. “Attacks on diplomatic missions are attacks on the international order — and an assault on the principles that bind nations together. We commend Türkiye and Turkish security forces for their swift and decisive response.”
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Police officers pulled out guns and took cover as shots rang out for at least 10 minutes near a permanent security checkpoint near the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul. One person was seen covered in blood amid the glass towers in the heart of the city’s main financial district.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed an apparent attacker, in a dark top and carrying a backpack, moving among parked white police and security buses and firing with an automatic rifle and a handgun.
Two bodies lay on nearby streets and parking areas, near grassy areas.
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Two police officers were lightly wounded in the attack, Istanbul Governor Davut Gul told reporters at the scene.
He said there had been no Israeli diplomatic staff at the consulate for 2-1/2 years, since the Hamas-Israel war began in 2023, leading to a deep chill in Turkish-Israeli diplomatic ties.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed there were no staff at the consulate at the time of the shootings.
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The incident occurred next to a major motorway just after midday, immediately outside the tower where the Israeli Consulate is located. The gunfire echoed inside nearby bank headquarters, where thousands of workers were breaking for lunch.
Turkey, a fierce critic of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, had recalled its ambassador from Israel in November 2023 and diplomatic relations have been effectively frozen since then.
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At the same time that year, Israeli diplomats left Turkey due to security concerns after pro-Palestinian protests erupted across the country and in front of the consulate. Since then, a heavily armed police presence has been maintained in the area near the consulate.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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