Ankara - A shootout between police and a leader of a radical
left-wing group in Istanbul ended Monday morning with a police
officer, the militant and an innocent by-stander dead, according to
Interior Minister Besir Atalay.
The five hour standoff began when Orhan Yilmazkaya - a leading
figure in far-left Revolutionary Headquarters group - threw hand
grenades as police raided an apartment block in the suburb of
Bostanci on the Asian side of the city before dawn.
Soon after the confrontation started Yilmazkaya made an
announcement via a radio using a police frequency, saying that he was
prepared to die.
'We won't surrender, we will fight until the last drop of our
blood. We have enough hand grenades and ammunition. I want to speak
to the head of police,' Yilmazkaya said, according to the Anadolu
news agency.
The police officer who was in charge of the raid, Semih Balaban,
was badly injured in the shootout and later died in hospital. A
civilian onlooker was killed when he was shot in the head.
The standoff ended five and a half hours later with Yilmazkaya's
death. Police then searched the building for explosive devices,
carrying out at least one controlled explosion.
Initial reports that Yilmazkaya had two accomplices with him later
proved to be incorrect.
A further six police officers and a television cameraman were also
injured in the shootout.
Atalay said the Revolutionary Headquarters group was responsible
for a bomb blast in December at the Istanbul headquarters of the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Six people were injured in that blast. The minister claimed that
the group had links with the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK),
and had received logistical help from them.
In addition to the Bostanci raid, police raided some 60 houses and
work places in Istanbul arresting around 40 people, Atalay said.
'Explosives, C-4, weapons, bomb fuzes and similar materials were
seized,' Atalay told reporters in Istanbul.
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