ISTANBUL
Forensic analysis has confirmed that it was the terrorist’s gun that killed the Turkish prosecutor in Tuesday’s hostage crisis and not the weapons of security personnel, Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.
According to the analysis carried out by the Council of Forensic Medicine in Istanbul, the terrorist’s 7.65mm firearm was used in the murder.
The prosecutor's office also shared photographs that showed the exact movement of terrorists during the deadly hostage taking crisis Tuesday that left two suspected terrorists, Safak Yayla and Bahtiyar Dogruyol, and the Turkish prosecutor, Mehmet Selim Kiraz, dead.
According to the office’s chronology of events, one of the two terrorists entered the courthouse through the lawyers' entrance, while the other entered through the citizens' gate after being searched by guards.
The two then meet and proceed towards the prosecutor's room, where the hostage crisis unfolded. Security forces had tried their best to peacefully resolve the situation and also held negotations with the hostage takers, but eventually they moved in when they heard gunshots from inside.
"Security guards only responded after they heard gunshots (from inside the prosecutor’s room) and the terrorists fired back at the guards from inside," the office said.
The outlawed leftwing extremist group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or the DHKP-C, had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security forces have responded with a crackdown on the group. Early Thursday, police detained 24 people in Istanbul for alleged links with the group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.
Police also raided 38 different locations, including a culture center and buildings of some associations in Okmeydani district, following an assault on Istanbul’s police department, in which one attacker was killed and another was arrested on Wednesday. Two unlicensed guns, an automatic rifle, a jammer device and a number of bullets were seized during the operation.
On Wednesday, 29 people with alleged links to the terrorist group were also detained in western provinces of Izmir, Eskisehir and southern province of Antalya.
