One person was killed and four injured in a rifle and pistol attack near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, the city's governor said.
“The attack was carried out by three people,” Istanbul governor Davut Gul said. “All three have been neutralised. One was apprehended dead. Two others were apprehended injured.”
Two police officers were injured in clashes with the shooters, who arrived by car and were armed with long-barrelled weapons and pistols, Mr Gul said. He described the incident as “a move that reeks of provocation”.
The shooting comes amid heightened regional tensions over the Iran war, which had previously had minimal impact on Turkey.
Turkey's Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said authorities had identified three “terrorists” who had rented a car in Izmit, west of Istanbul, before carrying out the attack.
The assailant killed in clashes with security forces was identified as Yunus E S and had “connections with a terrorist organisation that exploits religion”, the Interior Ministry said in a separate statement. The two wounded assailants, brothers Onur C and Enes C, are being questioned.
There was “intensive digital communication” between the three men before the attack, the statement added.
The DHA news agency broadcast footage in which loud gunfire could be heard outside the building housing the Israeli consulate in the Levent district around 12.30pm local time on Tuesday.
The Haberturk TV channel broadcast images showing heavily armed security forces sweeping an area outside the building as ambulances gathered and police cordoned off the site.
Levent is one of Istanbul's main financial and business districts, where banks and businesses have headquarters in high-rise towers. Many countries have consulates in the area.
Israel-Turkey relations have nosedived since the war in Gaza, but the countries have not cut ties formally, with each retaining a modest, low-key diplomatic presence in the other.
A source familiar with the subject said there are currently no Israeli diplomats in Turkey, either in the Istanbul consulate or the embassy in Ankara.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said it strongly condemned the “terrorist attack” on its consulate. “We appreciate the Turkish security forces’ swift action in thwarting this attack,” it added.
Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had launched an investigation and assigned three public prosecutors to the case.
“Our public prosecutors promptly proceeded to the scene and began their examination,” Mr Gurlek said in a statement posted on X.
Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkey, condemned the incident. “Attacks on diplomatic missions are attacks on the international order,” he said.
Protesters demonstrating against Israel's actions in Gaza and across the Middle East have been known to gather outside the consulate, usually peacefully.
A charity foundation that has frequently organised anti-Israel and anti-US demonstrations on Tuesday announced plans for a protest march intending to pass by the building.
The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation said it would protest on Wednesday evening against “atrocities committed by Israel and the US in Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iran”. It was not clear if Turkish security forces would allow the rally to pass in front of the Israeli consulate after Tuesday's shooting.
There is no suggestion that IHH was involved in the incident.
