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 The NATO member has been in a heightened state of alert since
starting its "synchronized war on terror" last month, which has
included air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. It has
also rounded up hundreds of suspected militants at home.
Police armed with automatic rifles cordoned off streets around the
U.S. consulate in the Sariyer district on the European side of
Istanbul, following the gun attack there.
Local media reports said two attackers, a man and a woman, fled
after police fired back. There were no immediate reports of civilian
injuries. Broadcaster NTV said police later detained the female
suspect, who was wounded in the gunfire.
The Dogan news agency said the woman was aged 51 and had served
prison time for being a suspected member of the far-leftist
Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), which is
virulently anti-American and is listed as a terrorist organization
by the United States and Turkey.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
 "We are working with Turkish authorities to investigate the
incident. The Consulate General remains closed to the public until
further notice," a consulate official said.
On the other side of Istanbul, a vehicle laden with explosives was
used in an attack on a police station, injuring three police
officers and seven civilians, police said.
Broadcaster CNN Turk said two gunmen and an officer from the police
bomb squad, who was sent to investigate, were later killed in a
firefight. Shooting continued into Monday morning in the Sultanbeyli
district on the Asian side of the Bosphorus waterway, which divides
Istanbul, as police carried out raids.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either of the
attacks, but U.S. diplomatic missions and police stations have been
targeted by far-left groups in Turkey in the past.
The DHKP-C, whose members are among those detained in recent weeks,
claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the U.S. embassy in
Ankara in 2013 which killed a Turkish security guard.
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VIOLENCE IN SOUTHEAST
Violence between the security forces and suspected militants also
intensified in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
Four police officers were killed when their armored vehicle was hit
by a roadside blast in the town of Silopi in the province of Sirnak,
security sources said.
A soldier was also killed when Kurdish militants opened fire on a
military helicopter in a separate attack in Sirnak, the military
said in a statement. Security sources said at least seven other
soldiers were wounded in the attack, which came as the helicopter
took off.
The military launched an air campaign against PKK camps in northern
Iraq on July 24 after a resurgence of militant attacks. State-run
Anadolu news agency said on Sunday that more than 260 militants had
been killed, including senior PKK figures, and more than 400 wounded
by Aug. 1.
The violence has left a peace process with the PKK, begun by
President Tayyip Erdogan in 2012, in tatters. Erdogan said last
month the process had become impossible, although neither side has
so far declared the negotiations definitively over.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States
and European Union, launched its insurgency in 1984 to press for
greater Kurdish rights. More than 40,000 people have been killed in
the conflict.
(Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara; Writing by Nick
Tattersall; Editing by Tom Heneghan and David Stamp)
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