Captive Prosecutor Freed, 3 Terrorists Killed in Turkey

ISTANBUL – Three suspected armed assailants from the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, were killed by Turkish police in an operation to free the Turkish prosecutor who had been taken hostage at an Istanbul courthouse on Tuesday, according to the Turkish daily Sabah.

The publication noted that the hostage was injured, and was transferred to the hospital after being freed.

According to Turkish Hurriyet daily newspaper on Tuesday, the hostage is prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who is investigating the death of 14-year-old Berkin Elvan on March 11, 2014, 269 days after he was sent into a coma after being struck by a tear-gas canister during the Gezi Park protests, an incident which sparked a wave of indignation in the country.

A photo had been released earlier on Tuesday on social media showing a gun pointed at Kiraz’s head, with the flag of the Marxist, Leninist DHKP-C party hung in the background.