[OPE] Gunmen Attack US Embassy

dogangoecmen@aol.com

Gunmen Attack US Embassy: Three Policemen And Three Assailants Killed 

Three gunmen attack the police guard at the US
Embassy, killing three police officers. The gunmen are killed at the
scene. They are identified as Turkish citizens, but the organization
behind the incident is not known. 

Bia news center - İstanbul

09-07-2008

Three gunmen opened fire at
the police guard post at
the main entrance of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. According to the witnesses, police
officers Erdal Öztaş, Mehmet Önder Saçaklıoğlu and Nedim Çalık were killed and
another police officer was injured in the shootout. The three gunmen were also
killed. 

The assailants are identified as Erkan 
Kargın (26), resident of Bitlis in Eastern Turkey, Bülent Çınar and Raif Topcıl (20), born in Bitlis. 

According to CNNTürk’ report based on Doğan News Agency, Istanbul police announced that they had two
person in custody in connection with the incident.

Authorities suspect El-Kaide is behind the shooting. 

Istanbul governor
Muammer Güler told they determined the identities of the two assailants; they
are from Turkey.

According to what the witnesses told NTV, three gunmen, who got out of a
white Doblo, opened fire at the police guard post in front of the U.S.
Consulate, there was a shootout between the police officers and the assailants
for seven, eight minutes, and the fourth assailant, who seemed to be driving
the car, managed to get away.

According to another witness, a gray Ford Focus arrived at the car wash
place fifteen minutes before the attack with four people in it. The witness
remembers seeing their guns, how they approached the guard post and started
shooting at the same time. Later, three of the assailants got out of the car
and continude shooting at the guard post.

Interior Minister Beşir Atalay declined from giving more information
about the political identity of the assailants, whether or not they were from
the terror organization İBDA-C, at this point in order to protect the
investigation. 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a meeting with the undersecretary
of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). President Abdullah Gül
condemned the shootout as a terrorist act. 

The U.S. ambassador to
Ankara Ross Wilson described the attack on Istanbul
consulate as a terrorist attack against the U.S. consulate and the Turkish
police officers. 

Wilson said the security personnel from both countries were working together to
uncover the details of the attack. Regarding whether the incident could be
linked to Ergenekon, Wilson
said they did not have any information that could be used to show there was
such a connection. 

Istanbul governor Muammer Güler announced that the three police officers, two of
whom were traffic cops, were killed.  

Istanbul Public Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin reached the opinion, after
his crime scene investigation, that the assailants were 25-30 years old, used
guns and pump rifles, and the way it happened was indicative of a terrorist
attack. (NZ/TB). 

 ----------------------
Doğan Göçmen
Author of The Adam Smith Problem:
Reconciling Human Nature and Society in
The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations,
I. B. Tauris, London&New York 2007

________________________________________________________________________
AOL Email goes Mobile! You can now read your AOL Emails whilst on the move. Sign up for a free AOL Email account with unlimited storage today.

_______________________________________________
ope mailing list
ope@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope