Two attackers killed in attack on Istanbul courthouse

Two attackers were killed in Istanbul this Tuesday when they tried to attack a security checkpoint at the entrance to the city’s main Court Palace. Security camera images show two attackers opening fire at the entrance of the building and being killed by police seconds later. Six people were injured in the attack, three of them police officers, but minutes later officials said a civilian had died en route to hospital. However, the status of the remaining affected people is currently unknown All the people were injured by bullets in the attackAccording to Turkish radio station Mediascope.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya blamed the attack on the Marxist armed group DHKP-C, which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, the European Union and the United States. “Two attackers, named EY and PB, were killed. They were members of the terrorist organization DHKP-C,” Yerlikaya said in a publication on X. The minister said the suspects are a man and a woman, who are members of the group. .Armed, but no further details were released about their identities. At present the group has not claimed responsibility for the attack. Authorities announced that shortly after the attack, a third attacker was captured as he fled from the gunfire.

DHKP-C has in the past also carried out attacks against Turkish security forces and the judiciary and against United States targets., with a suicide attack on their embassy in Ankara, because they view Washington as “the greatest enemy of the world’s people”. Tuesday’s attack took place in front of a court block named after Mehmet Selim Kiraz, a prosecutor killed by the DHKP-C in 2015 after being held hostage for hours.

Following the attack, RTÜK, the regulatory body for television, radio and press in Turkey, barred the media from broadcasting new information about the attack. This is a general measure imposed by Turkish authorities to “not hinder the investigation”, which has generated criticism from opposition parties for a lack of transparency.

Turkey has faced a series of attacks carried out by various groups in recent months. Last October, a civilian was killed and two police officers were injured in an attack by Kurdish PKK guerrillas against the Interior Ministry in Ankara. Two weeks ago, Islamic State had claimed responsibility for an attack on a church in Istanbul, in which a civilian was killed. Following the attack, 47 alleged members of the Islamist group, including the two perpetrators of the attack, were arrested.