Overview
- Police and gunmen exchanged fire Tuesday outside the Levent tower that houses Israel’s consulate, leaving one attacker dead, two wounded and detained, and two police officers lightly injured.
- Prosecutors are leading the case as Turkish media, cited by Reuters, reported 10 people in custody, including the two wounded suspects who are being questioned in hospital.
- The slain attacker was identified as Yunus Emre Sarban, whose assets were frozen in 2021 over links to financial networks tied to the Islamic State, according to an interior ministry source and the Official Gazette.
- Officials have not confirmed a motive or whether the consulate was the intended target, and investigators say the assailants traveled to Istanbul in a rented car from nearby Izmit.
- Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the consulate was unstaffed, and a long-standing police cordon around the site reflects strained ties since 2023 and Turkey’s broader campaigns against Islamist militants.