Turkish police kill 2 women after attack at Istanbul police station

ISTANBUL –  Police in Istanbul on Thursday shot and killed two women who had hidden inside a building after attacking police with gunfire and a hand grenade, an official said. Two police officers were slightly injured.

Security camera footage showed the women firing at a police bus outside a riot police station in Istanbul's Bayrampasa neighborhood and also hurling a hand grenade, before apparently taking aim at the police station. The hand grenade did not explode.

They escaped the scene in a vehicle and hid inside a building a short distance from the police station. Police quickly surrounded the building and launched an operation after the pair ignored calls for them to surrender.

Istanbul Gov. Vahip Sahin said both of the assailants were killed in the operation. He said two police officers were wounded — one by broken glass during the attack on the bus and the other during the operation on the building.

Sahin said police were trying to identify the assailants and possible accomplices.

There was no immediate responsibility claim for the attack on the riot police station. Both Kurdish rebels and militants of a far-left organization have attacked police in the city in the past.

The attack comes amid a surge in violence in Turkey since the summer.