Hours after the hostage standoff involving a far-left party at a courthouse, two gunmen broke into the office of the ruling AK party in Istanbul. The gunmen, who were reportedly addressing a crowd, were later arrested by a Turkish SWAT team.
A video as well as images surfaced on social media, showing one of the gunmen standing in the balcony of the building. Local news channel showed Turkish police sealing off the road around the building in Kartal district of Istanbul's Asian side.
The video shows the two men standing in the balcony of AKP's office, addressing a crowd. The assailants also broke the windows of the building to fly a Turkish flag.
The incident comes just a day after a prominent Istanbul prosecutor was held hostage for over six hours by two leftist extremists in the main courthouse before the Turkish special forces stormed the building. The hostage and both the gunmen were killed in the rescue attempt.
The armed militants, who belonged to a radical group, had posted several images on social media, showing them holding a gun to the head of prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz. The apparent motivation grew out of a politically-charged case involving the death of a teenage boy in anti-government protests nearly two years ago, NYTimes reported.
AK Parti ilçe binasına silahlı saldırı anonsu http://t.co/yEQfsp6G0f pic.twitter.com/Uy1mkZv9J3
— Yusuf Aydoğdu (@YusufAdogdu) April 1, 2015
The assailants posed as lawyers to gain entry into the building, with weapons hidden under robes.
