August 19, 2015 at Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul. (AFP Photo)
Gunfire has broken out near the entrance to Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, local media reports say.
Local media on also reported an explosion near the palace on Wednesday, but this has not been independently confirmed. The assailants reportedly deployed a sound grenade before opening fire at the police.
The Ottoman-era building, a tourist hotspot, is where the office of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is located.
Police launched a manhunt for two people after the attack, NTV television reported, adding that there are as of yet no reports of fatalities or injuries. The two suspects, carrying long range weapons and a bomb, were later arrested close to the German consulate.
At least one policeman is reported to have been injured.
The 45,000-square-meter Dolmabahce Palace is one of the last and the greatest palaces of the Ottoman Empire built in the first half of the 19th century.
The palace is partially open to the public, but one section is separated and set aside as reception hall and offices for the prime minister.
Siirt Province sees Turkish soldiers fall
In a separate development on Wednesday, Turkish media reported that eight Turkish soldiers were killed in a bomb attack that targeted their vehicle in the southeastern province of Siirt.
The assault has been blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Clashes with PKK
The development comes as Turkey has been engaged in one of its biggest security operations in the southern border region over the past weeks. The Turkish military has been conducting offensives against alleged positions of Daesh terrorists in northern Syria as well as those of the PKK in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey.
The security operations began in the wake of the deadly July 20 bomb attack in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, an ethnically Kurdish town located close to the Kurdish town of Kobani on the other side of the border in Syria, where over 30 people died. The Turkish government blamed Daesh for the bombing. On July 22, the PKK claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish police officers, saying they were cooperating with Daesh.
During the early hours of Wednesday, two Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with the PKK militants in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir. One soldier had died earlier.
The Turkish military said Tuesday that the fighting began a day earlier after the provincial and district gendarmerie command launched a joint operation against suspected PKK members in the region who had allegedly blocked a road linking Diyarbakir to the province of Bingol.
Also on Tuesday, about 800 Turkish soldiers launched an attack against the PKK in the district of Silvan in Diyarbakir.
Seeking self-rule, the PKK has been engaged in militancy in southeastern Turkey for decades. An unstable ceasefire with the government, which had been in place since 2013, was declared null by the militants following the Turkish airstrikes against the group.
Source: presstv.com