Attack outside US consulate in Istanbul, 6 dead

Three unidentified gunmen and three Turkish policemen were killed Wednesday in an attack on a checkpoint outside the well-fortified US consulate in Istanbul that officials labelled a "terrorist" act.

The assailants "directly" targetted the police post outside the high-walled US consulate in the upscale district of Istinye, Istanbul province Governor Muammer Guler said.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay called the gunmen "terrorists" and the investigation was handed to prosecutors specialising in terrorism cases.

The three assailants jumped from a car and opened fire at the police checkpoint around 11:00am (0800 GMT), a witness told NTV television, adding that they also fired shots at the building.

The security forces returned fire, killing all three gunmen.

One policeman died on the spot, while two others succumbed to their injuries in hospital, Guler said.

Two other people -- a policeman and the civilian driver of a police truck -- were injured, he said.

No consulate personnel were injured, the spokeswoman of the US embassy in Ankara, Kathy Schallow, told AFP.

Guns and rifles were seized at the scene after the shootout, which lasted about eight minutes.

The police post was situated outside a gate for visa applicants from where steep steps lead up to the fortified consulate building.

The consulate was moved to its current high-security location in 2003 as foreign missions across the world stepped up security measures following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

Television footage showed a bloodied body, covered with newspaper, lying in the street as emergency services rushed the wounded to hospital.

The car, described either as white or grey, was driven by a fourth accomplice who drove off after the attack.

The security forces launched a major hunt for the vehicle and a police helicopter was overflying the area.

The car had waited a while at a nearby car-wash before driving down towards the consulate, a witness said.

Investigators were trying to determine the identities of the assailants, who were aged between 25 and 30, Istanbul's chief prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin told reporters.

"We consider the incident a terrorist act," he said.

Two of the dead gunmen were Turkish nationals, while the police were still trying to establish the identity of the third, NTV quoted officials as saying.

The most recent attack on a foreign mission in Turkey was in 2003 when Al-Qaeda militants detonated a car bomb at the British consulate in central Istanbul, and simultaneously attacked the British HSBC bank.

The British consul was killed in the attacks, which followed the bombings five days earlier of two synagogues in Istanbul. About 60 people were killed in the four blasts, the deadliest terrorist attacks in Turkey.