Istanbul attacks target US consulate, police station

Two assailants opened fire at the U.S. Consulate building in Istanbul and engaged in a gunfight with security personnel, according to local media reports.

Turkish media said no one was hurt in the Monday morning attack.

One of the assailants, a woman, was wounded in the attack and captured by the police in an apartment nearby, media said, adding that police was searching for a second suspect, reportedly a man.

The assault came hours after a bomb attack rocked a police station on the outskirts of Istanbul early on Monday morning, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The attack targeted the police station in the Sultanbeyli neighborhood and caused a fire that collapsed part of the three-story building, the agency reported. 

There were conflicting reports about casualties. The state-run agency reported the blast injured five police officers and two civilians while the the private Dogan news agency reported the explosion killed two people and injured at least 10. Dogan reported the blast also damaged neighboring buildings and around 20 cars parked nearby.

The attack occurred about 1 a.m. Monday in an area on the outskirts of the Istanbul. Police cordoned off the area but people gathered outside the police station shouted slogans against the PKK, Hurriyet newspaper reported.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, which comes at a time of a sharp spike in violence between Turkey's security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The attack also comes at a time when Turkey is taking a more active role against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).  Last month it conducted aerial strikes against ISIL positions in Syria and agreed to let the U.S.-led coalition use its bases for its fight against ISIL. The move followed a suicide bombing blamed on ISIL which killed 32 people and after ISIL fighters fired at Turkish soldiers from across the border in Syria, killing one soldier.

Al Jazeera with wire services