Police in Turkey have concluded a massive manhunt by catching a fugitive gunman suspected of taking part in the attack on the US consulate in Istanbul, a private news agency reported.
A police officer in Istanbul confirmed the report but refused to give details. He declined to give his name because Turkish law bars civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization. An interior ministry spokesman did not immediately answer calls.
The private Dogan news agency said the man, who was not named, was caught on Thursday soon after his getaway car was reported found in the city.
He was being interrogated by anti-terrorism police, the news agency said.
Police had set up roadblocks around Istanbul on Thursday and were stopping cars to check IDs in an effort to find the man, who managed to flee the scene around the consulate amid the chaos.
Wednesday’s attack on the consulate ignited a fire-fight that killed three policemen and three assailants and prompted Turkey to increase security at all US diplomatic missions in the country.
Four other suspects were detained as officials investigated their ties to slain attackers, Interior Minister Besir Atalay said.
One suspect with possible links to the assailants was picked up near the Armenian border hours after the attack, when authorities established that he had been in frequent telephone contact with the assailants, the Dogan news agency reported. The rest were detained in Istanbul.
Police suspect the attackers had ties to al-Qaeda but say they have no proof of a link yet.
Meanwhile, one attacker’s possible ties to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan intrigued investigators.
Erkan Kargin, one of the three attackers killed, had previously traveled to Afghanistan, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Dozens of militants from Turkey have had military training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and some have fought and died in al-Qaeda ranks in Iraq, Turkish officials say.
All three of the slain attackers — Kargin, Raif Topcil and Bulent Cinar — lived with their families in the low-income Istanbul neighborhood of Kucukcekmece, Dogan reported.
The suspected fourth attacker, the man who was at large, is also believed to be from Kucukcekmece.
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