World
The consulate in the Turkish capital came under gunfire on Monday amidst a wave of separate attacks on Turkish security forces that have left at least 9 dead. Reuters reports that the NATO member has been in a heightened state of alert since starting its "synchronized war on terror" last month, which has included air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. It has also rounded up hundreds of suspected militants at home. Police armed with automatic rifles cordoned off streets around the U.S. consulate in the Sariyer district on the European side of Istanbul, following the gun attack there.
Following the attack on the military helicopter in Sirnak province, writes the BBC, Turkish helicopters bombed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in retaliation. A ceasefire in the long-running conflict with the group appeared to disintegrate in July, when Turkey began bombing PKK camps in northern Iraq, at the same time as launching air strikes on IS militants. PKK leader Cemil Bayik has accused Turkey of trying to protect IS by attacking Kurdish fighters.
"They are doing it to limit the PKK's fight against IS. Turkey is protecting IS," he told the BBC in an interview. Kurdish fighters - among them the PKK - have secured significant victories against IS militants in Syria and Iraq. But Turkey, like a number of Western countries, considers the PKK a terrorist organisation.
