Gunfire Heard Near Turkey’s Dolmabahce Palace

Prime minister Ahmet Davutolgu was in the capital Ankara as reports of the attack emerged and did not interrupt a speech being broadcast on live television.

According to witnesses, two unidentified persons attacked a security checkpoint at the entrance of the palace.

The incident comes after the United States began launching manned airstrikes against ISIS from a base in Turkey for the first time last week.

In a statement, the Istanbul governor’s office reportedly noted that police officers were able to seize two grenades and other weapons from the scene of the attack. Fighting was still ongoing on Wednesday night in nearby Fisova, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reported.

Monday’s attacks raised fresh concerns about security throughout Turkey in an escalating cycle of violence that has left a 2013 ceasefire agreed by the PKK in tatters.

Turkish special police officers patrol in the street after clashes with attackers on Monday in the Sultanbeyli district of Istanbul.

Turkish watch have held a private on a Monday confront by a couple of assailants on the US consular assistance in Istanbul, information webpages say.

Later at least eight Turkish soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb detonated by Kurdish rebels in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east region, the military said.

Turkey has rounded up more than 1,000 people linked to ISIL, Kurdish groups and leftist armed groups. Given the attraction’s popularity, it’s extremely fortunate that no one was seriously harmed in the attack.

“We will break the hands raised against the peoples’ fighters who ensured justice by attacking the Dolmabahce Palace”, it said.