Istanbul: Two people were shot dead during an attempt to attack a courthouse in Turkey's Istanbul on Tuesday, according to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. The man and woman were killed during an “attempt to attack” a security checkpoint at the Caglayan courthouse at 11.46 am local time (0846GMT), Yerlikaya posted on social media.
A total of six people, including three police officers and three civilians, were injured in the attempted attack on the Caglayan courthouse. “I congratulate our heroic police officers. I wish a speedy recovery to our injured,” the minister added. Caglayan is also known as the Istanbul Justice Palace in the Kagithane district on the city's European side.
Camera footage published by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency showed the assailants being gunned down on the building's forecourt. They appeared to shoot back at police before they were killed. Yerlikaya later identified the attackers as members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front, or DHKP/C, a far-left group that is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
The attack took place on the day when Turkey was commemorating the anniversary of an earthquake in the country's south that killed thousands of people. Millions of people across Turkey gathered on Tuesday to mourn the loss of more than 53,000 people in last year's devastating earthquake.
What is the DHKP/C?
According to the Turkish government, the DHKP/C has been operating for over half a century and has staged several attacks against Turkish officials and others, including the US diplomatic presence in Turkey. In March 2015, the group took a prosecutor hostage at the same courthouse, demanding details about the police killing of a teenager during anti-government protests the previous year. Two gunmen died as police stormed the building, and the prosecutor later died of his injuries.
The group also claimed responsibility for a February 2013 suicide bomb attack on the US Embassy in Ankara in which a Turkish security guard was killed and four other people wounded. However, the DHKP/C has been largely inactive in recent years.
Last month, a man was shot and killed at an Istanbul church in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State group. Two men were later arrested on suspicion of killing Tuncer Cihan, 52, on January 28 at the Santa Maria Church in the Buyukdere neighbourhood. Dozens of suspected IS members and supporters also were detained.
(with inputs from AP)
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