Editor-in-Chief
Two
men linked to The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a
banned Marxist group, took prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage March 31. The situation occurred on the sixth floor of
the Caglayan courthouse in Istanbul.
Kiraz was leading the inquiry surrounding the death of Berkin Elvan, a
boy killed during anti-government protests in 2013. The DHKP-C website stated that the hostage
situation was for Elvan, his death in 2013 was the motive for the
situation. On Tuesday, the hostage
situation was solved when police special forces went into the courthouse to
confront the men, both gunmen were killed in the confrontation late Tuesday. Kiraz died shortly after from wounds inflicted
on him in the shootout.
DHKP-C
is known as a terrorist organization to the United States, European Union, and
Turkey. The group was behind some
terrorist situations in the past years including a suicide bombing at the U.S.
Embassy in 2013. In January, a man
associated to DHKP-C was arrested near the prime minister's offices in
Istanbul, after throwing two grenades that failed to explode.
Yesterday,
a female terrorist carrying a rifle, two hand grenades, and a pistol was killed
outside of the Istanbul police headquarters.
Istanbul police detained a man also trying to attack police
headquarters.
