Consulate Attackers May Have Been Afghanistan-Trained Turks
Excerpts from news article:
Three policemen and three gunmen were killed in an armed attack yesterday on the US Consulate General in Istanbul… The consulate occupies a citadel-like structure on a hill in Istinye, a densely populated residential neighborhood along the Bosporus on the European side of Istanbul. Turkish police guard the street, while US personnel are in charge of security inside the consulate compound. During the attack US security personnel stayed inside the compound, as they are not authorized to engage in armed action on Turkish soil.
The assailants came in a car and three of them later got out, opening fire on policemen at an entrance gate of the consulate at around 11 a.m. yesterday. Three police officers — Nedim Calik, Mehmet Önder Sacaklioglu and Erdal Öztas — were killed in the shooting and three assailants were shot dead, reportedly all by the same policeman, identified as Osman Dagli, in the resulting shootout. News reports said the fleeing car was loaded with explosives.
Sources said some bystanders who had been waiting for US visas were also injured in the attack. The wounded were rushed to nearby hospitals for medical attention.
There was no immediate information on who was behind the attack, although there were unconfirmed reports that al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda-trained elements were involved. Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler said all three assailants killed in the clash were Turkish citizens….
Police launched an operation to capture the fourth assailant, who fled the scene in the automobile, and private CNN-Türk reported that two suspects, one of whom was identified as Atilla Cinar, were soon taken into custody. Sources identified the assailants as Erkan Kargin, Rauf Topcil and Bülent Cinar and news reports said they had been trained in Afghanistan.
“At first sight, the attack appears to be pointing to al-Qaeda,” said Sedat Laciner, the head of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), adding that it might be a symbolic assault on both the United States and the Turkish police protecting the consulate building. “If you look at other similar attacks in the Middle East, you will see that they are directed more at the local forces protecting the Western interests than the West itself. Attackers may believe that they inflicted harm on the Turkish police who protect the US,” he told Today’s Zaman.
Mahir Kaynak, a former intelligence chief, expressed doubt that the attack could be related to the ongoing investigation into the Ergenekon network, which has so far resulted in the arrests of dozens of people, including two retired generals. …
[An] eyewitness, Ulus Durgut, said the attackers were bearded men with long hair.
[JW: news reports say that two of the dead terrorists had police records.]
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