Two militants killed after attack on Turkish police station

Turkish police have killed two militants taking cover in a building they escaped into after they hurled hand grenades and opened fire at a Istanbul police station.

MENA

2 min read

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03 March, 2016

Kurdish rebels and DHKP-C militants recently launched a number of attacks on Turkish police [Getty]

Two women militants taking cover inside a building after attacking a Turkish police station were killed by police on Thursday.

The assailants, whose identities and affiliation remain unclear, had holed up in an apartment building in the Bayrampasa district after attacking a police station in the Istanbul suburb.

Police surrounded the building before launching an assault, killing both women. No other casualties were reported.

Nearby residents had been evacuated from the area as the street was cordoned off.

Earlier, security camera footage showed one of the women throwing a hand grenade in a police bus as the second woman opened fire at the police station in the Bayrampasa district.

Turkish police returned fire but the women fled the scene, escaping into a nearby building.

The motive of the attack is unknown but Kurdish rebels and militants of a far-left organisation have launched a number of attacks against Turkish police recently.

The banned ultra-left wing Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front [DHKP-C] staged a string of small-scale attacks in Istanbul suburbs over the past few months.

Similarly, the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party [PKK] also launched a number of attacks killing dozens of Turkish soldiers mainly in the southeast of the country.

Turkey has been on high alert since the attacks on Ankara in October that killed over 100 people.