Police targeted in Turkey

This item appears on page 16 of the March 2015 issue.

A suicide bomber blew herself up in a Turkish police station on Jan. 6, killing herself and one officer and wounding another officer. The attack happened near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia in the Sultanahmet district.

Days earlier, on Jan. 1, no one was injured when a man threw grenades at police officers stationed at the prime minister’s office.

The Marxist and anti-Western militant organization Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front, known in Turkey as DKHP-C, claimed responsibility for both attacks. A DKHP-C suicide bomber hit the US Embassy in Ankara in 2013.

On Jan. 30, an unidentified woman with an automatic weapon opened fire on a police vehicle in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. There were no reported casualties. The woman escaped on foot, leaving her weapon behind. As of press time, no group had claimed responsibility.