One person was killed and four were injured in a shooting near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, authorities have said.
A gunfight erupted outside a building housing the consulate between three attackers and police. Reuters video showed a police officer pulling out a gun and taking cover as gunshots resounded. One person was seen covered in blood.
Authorities said the attackers were all “neutralised” with one killed and two injured. Two officers were lightly injured, Istanbul governor Davut Gul said.
Initial reports had claimed three people were killed in the incident as it was still unfolding in the Turkish city.
Attackers were carrying rifles and other guns to attack the consulate, Mr Gul said. The area surrounding the building was quickly sealed off.
Interior minister Mustafa Ciftci said that the attackers, whom he called “terrorists”, had been identified and two of the three are believed to be brothers.
“The identities of the terrorists have been identified. It has been determined that the individuals, who arrived in Istanbul by a rental vehicle from Izmit, include one with ties to an organisation that exploits religion; and it has also been established that one of the two terrorists, who are brothers, has a drug record,” he said.
Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the incident, Turkey’s justice minister Akin Gurlek said.
“One deputy chief public prosecutor and two public prosecutors have been assigned; our public prosecutors have promptly arrived at the scene and begun examinations,” the statement said.
“Under the coordination of our chief public prosecutor's office, in collaboration with relevant law enforcement units, the work is ongoing for the purpose of fully elucidating the incident, and the investigation is being conducted meticulously and in a multifaceted manner.”
No Israeli diplomats were stationed in Turkey at that time, either at the consulate in Istanbul or the embassy in Ankara. It’s been almost three years since diplomatic personnel had staffed the consulate, the governor said.
The consulate occupies one or two floors inside the high-rise building, according to TV channel Haberturk.
The Israeli foreign ministry said it was aware of reports of gunfire near the consulate in Istanbul.
The shooting comes amid rising tensions between Turkey and Israel after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for the end to what he said was an “unlawful, meaningless” war.
The countries have had a strained relationship since Israel’s war in Gaza, which Erdogan reportedly called “the lowest point in humanity” during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year.
Turkey has played “a role passing messages” between Iran and the US to encourage de-escalation and direct negotiations, Harun Armagan, vice-chair of foreign affairs for President Erdogan's ruling party, said in March.
He did not elaborate on the messages but said they were also being conveyed to Gulf nations caught up in the conflict.
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