US consulate in Turkey targeted as wave of attacks kills 9
Two women shot at the US consulate in Istanbul on August 10 and at least nine people were killed in a wave of separate attacks on Turkish security forces, weeks after Ankara launched a crackdown on Islamic State, Kurdish and far-left militants.
The NATO member has been in a heightened state of alert since starting its "synchronized war on terror" last month, including air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. It has also rounded up hundreds of suspected militants at home.
A far-left group that killed a Turkish security guard in a 2013 suicide bombing of the US embassy in Ankara claimed it was involved in August 10's attack.
The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey, said one of its members was involved, and called Washington the "arch enemy" of the people of the Middle East and the world.
Turkey's foreign ministry condemned the attack and said security at US diplomatic missions was being tightened. Police with automatic rifles cordoned off streets around the US consulate in the Sariyer district on the European side of Istanbul.
Ahmet Akcay, a resident who witnessed the attack, told Reuters that one of the women fired four or five rounds, aiming at security officials and consulate officers.
One of the two women was later captured wounded, the Istanbul governor's office said.
The Dogan news agency said the injured woman was aged 51 and had served prison time for being a suspected member of the DHKP-C. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The attack came a day after the US sent six F-16 fighter jets and about 300 personnel to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey as part of coalition efforts to fight Islamic State.