Turkish police kill two women in Istanbul raid
Counter-terrorism forces in Turkey have killed at least two women in an operation against a cell of suspected militants in the city of Istanbul.
The two “terrorist” women were shot dead in the mainly Kurdish neighborhood of Gaziosmanpasa, located on the northern European side of Turkey’s largest city, local media said Tuesday.
At least four soldiers involved in the pre-dawn operation also sustained injuries in clashes that ensued for more than a half an hour when militants nearby opened fire on police.
It was not clear what organization the two females belonged to, but the district they were killed in is known as a stronghold for the supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the ultra-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).
Local authorities said the women were part of a cell linked to a mysterious bomb attack on December 1 near an Istanbul metro station that wounded up to half a dozen people, and forced the government to shut down Istanbul’s metro services for the day.
No group has ever claimed responsibility for the attack, which according to Ankara targeted a passing police vehicle.
Meanwhile, two Turkish soldiers were killed and six others injuries in a bomb explosion in the eastern province of Bitlis. Police said the incident happened when a military vehicle hit a roadside bomb in a rural area on Monday. They blamed the PKK for the attack.
Turkey has been engaged in a large-scale military campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the recent past. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against PKK positions in northern Iraq.
The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 20 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, an ethnically Kurdish town located close to the border with Syria. Over 30 people died in the Suruc attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Takfiri Daesh terrorists.
After the bombing in Suruc, PKK militants, who accuse the government of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.
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