Four held over consulate attack
Four suspects have been detained in connection with the attack on the US consulate in Istanbul, and police and Turkey's intelligence agency were investigating whether one of the slain gunmen had any relationship with al-Qaida when he visited Afghanistan.
Wednesday's attack on the consulate ignited a firefight that left three policemen and three assailants dead and prompted Turkey to increase security at all US diplomatic missions in the country.
Police suspect the attackers had ties to al-Qaida but so far say they have no actual proof of that link.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay said Thursday that four people are in custody. Another attacker escaped in a getaway car, but it was not immediately clear if he was among the four detained.
Erkan Kargin, one of the three attackers killed by police outside the consulate, had travelled previously to Afghanistan, according to a government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Dozens of militants from Turkey have had military training in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and some also fought and died in al-Qaida ranks in Iraq, Turkish officials say.
If Kargin's suspected relationship with al-Qaida is confirmed, the police are likely to label the attackers as militants linked to al-Qaida in Turkey, said Emin Demirel, a Turkish terrorism expert.
Homegrown Islamic militants have been posing an increasing threat to Turkey. As both a secular state and a US ally, it is a high-profile target for Islamists who subscribe to al-Qaida's world view.
"Al-Qaida has chosen Turkey as a main target and it would not be wrong to assume that the group would have instructed cells in Turkey to act," said Ihsan Bal, head of terrorism studies at Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organisation.