Seven wounded as Turkish police clash with gunman

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Seven officers were wounded Monday morning as Turkish police and a gunman clashed in an ongoing shootout during a raid on a safe house in a residential area, with the attacker throwing explosive devices, officials said. An onlooker, standing next to journalists behind police barriers, was also shot in the head with a stray bullet, an AP photographer said. He was lying in a pool of blood with no signs of life, television footage showed. It was not clear whether the man died. Police ordered the journalists to evacuate the area. The shootout involved one gunman linked to an underground leftist group, Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said. He did not specify which group. He had a large amount of ammunition, including booby traps, and that was why he had been able to hold off dozens of officers, Guler said. Television footage showed police units surrounding an apartment building in the Bostanci district of the city. Police were firing automatic weapons and tear gas canisters, and occasional blasts have rocked the neighborhood.