US steps up security in Turkey after Istanbul embassy attack kills six

The US stepped up security at its Turkish diplomatic missions today after an armed attack on its Istanbul consulate left six people dead and pushed Turkey into a state of high alert.

Three policemen were killed and at least two injured when armed men opened fire on the main entrance of the heavily fortified compound.

The attack prompted an intense gun battle with security personnel who were guarding the consulate. Three in which three attackers were also killed, although at least one escaped.

Ross Wilson, the American ambassador to Turkey, and Besir Atalay, the Turkish interior minister, both condemned the incident as a "terrorist attack", although there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

At the scene, Istanbul's governor, Muammar Guler, said the attackers had not been identified, despite early speculation linking them to al al-Qaeda.

The attack happened at the consulate's visa entrance, where applicants frequently queue for entry permits to the US.

An eyewitness, Enis Yilmaz, told CNN-Turk that the gunmen had driven up in a white vehicle. "A vehicle moved back and forth. Then I heard several gun shots," Yilmaz said.

"I saw that three people jumped out of the car. One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in the head. The other assailant fled with the car."

There were no reports of injuries to workers inside the consulate, which sits behind a 15-foot wall on a hill overlooking the quiet residential area of Istinye on the outskirts of Istanbul.

The US mission moved there several years ago after the previous building in the city centre was deemed vulnerable to attack.

Today's assault was the first on a western diplomatic mission in Istanbul since the British consulate was badly damaged in November 2003 in a devastating car bombing blamed on al al-Qaeda.

That attack and a simultaneous explosion at the Istanbul headquarters of the HSBC killed 32, including the British consul-general, Roger Short.

The latest incident comes against a backdrop of instability in Turkish domestic politics.

Investigators last Tuesday arrested more than 20 people and claimed to have foiled a violent coup by secular ultra-nationalists that was allegedly due to have begun this week to topple the socially conservative Justice and Development party (AKP) government.

Separately, Turkish authorities reported today that three German climbers had been kidnapped in the east of the country, possibly by Kurdish separatists.

Kurdish guerrillas have been blamed for a spate of fatal explosions in Turkey in recent years

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/09/turkey.usa1