Shots fired at US consulate in Turkey as wave of attacks kill 9

Turkish medics and police with a wounded female attacker after the attack on the US consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, 10 August 2015. [Photo/IC]

ISTANBUL/DIYABAKIR - Two women shot at the US consulate in Istanbul on Monday and at least nine people were killed in a wave of separate attacks on Turkish security forces, weeks after Ankara began a crackdown on Islamic State, Kurdish and far-left militants.

The NATO member has been on a heightened state of alert since launching its "synchronised war on terror" last month, including air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. It has also rounded up hundreds of suspected militants at home.

A far-left group claimed it was involved in the attack in which two women opened fire on the consulate early on Monday morning.

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and Turkey, said one of its members was involved.

Police with automatic rifles cordoned off streets around the consulate in the Sariyer district on the European side of Istanbul.

One of the two women was later captured wounded, the Istanbul governor's office said. No one else was wounded and it was not clear what happened to the second attacker.