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Turkey Attacks Hit Police, US Consulate

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Turkish police officers run for cover during a gunfight near the site of an overnight explosion at a police station in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli neighborhood, Aug. 10, 2015.
Turkish police officers run for cover during a gunfight near the site of an overnight explosion at a police station in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli neighborhood, Aug. 10, 2015.

At least six police and soldiers were killed in a series of attacks in Turkey, while another shooting struck the U.S. consulate in the country's largest city.

Two women are suspected in the assault on the consulate in Istanbul. One was injured in a firefight with police and is in custody, while a second remains at large. The leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) claimed responsibility for the attack that shut down operations at the diplomatic mission.

The group, which carried out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in 2013, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

A police investigator takes pictures of a vehicle after an attack on a police station in Istanbul, Turkey, Aug.10, 2015.
A police investigator takes pictures of a vehicle after an attack on a police station in Istanbul, Turkey, Aug.10, 2015.

Istanbul and Sirnak, Turkey
Istanbul and Sirnak, Turkey

Hours earlier in another section of Istanbul, a bomb exploded at a police station, killing one police officer, according to the English-language Hurriyet Daily News. At the same site, police were later involved in an exchange of gunfire with two attackers and killed them both.

The state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Istanbul police blaming that attack on "terrorists."

Meanwhile, in southern Turkey, a roadside bomb exploded in Sirnak province Monday, killing four police officers.

Elsewhere in Sirnak, near Turkey's border with Syria and Iraq, Kurdish militants killed a soldier after firing at a military helicopter that was carrying personnel.

Turkish security officials have in recent weeks detained suspected members of leftist and Kurdish groups in a country-wide crackdown, stoking long-standing internal and political conflicts.

In late July, the Turkish military launched near simultaneous campaigns on a Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, as well as on IS fighters in Syria, with the United States backing both air offensives.

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