The female shooter who targeted the police in Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Friday night before fleeing was identified as a member of the terrorist group the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).
The police said Elif Sultan Kalsen, was identified as the attacker from the finger prints she left on the rifle she left at the scene of the shooting. The attack caused no casualties. The group claimed the attack but did not identify the attacker.
Kalsen, who the DHKP-C initially claimed was the perpetrator of the Sultanahmet suicide attack on January 6 that killed a police officer, has been a fugitive since 2012.
Later, it became apparent the DHKP-C was not involved in the Sultanahmet attack and the group apologized.
The DHKP-C is a Marxist terrorist organization responsible for dozens of murders and attacks, including the one in February 2013 on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara that killed the perpetrator and a security officer. A DHKP-C member was arrested early last month after he tried to attack a police post in front of the Dolmabahçe Palace. No one was injured when the bombs he threw failed to go off.
The police launched a citywide operation on Saturday to capture Kalsen, raiding 15 houses believed to be used by the terrorist group in the Kartal, Maltepe and Sultangazi neighborhoods. Two people believed to be involved in the attack were detained but Kalsen couldn't be found.
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