2 gunmen killed by police after taking Istanbul prosecutor hostage
Two gunmen who took a prosecutor hostage in Istanbul on Tuesday were killed in a shootout with police after a standoff that lasted for hours.
Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was wounded in the siege, is being treated at a hospital, Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altinok told reporters.
Armed men took the prosecutor hostage at about 12:30 p.m. in his office on the sixth floor of the Caglayan district courthouse, the semiofficial Anadolu Agency reported.
Police evacuated that floor of the building, and snipers were deployed, the agency reported.
An explosion, followed by sounds of more gunshots, could be heard coming from the courthouse Tuesday evening, hours after the siege began.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack.
Kiraz was assigned to the controversial case of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old boy who was injured during the anti-government Gezi Park protests in June 2013.
The teen died the following March after having spent nine months in a coma. The case, with its overtones of possible police overreaction, has been politically contentious, just as the protests themselves were.
