Attacker opens fire at Istanbul police post, no casualties - Turkish TV

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A woman armed with a machinegun opened fire on a police post in Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Friday but initial reports suggested there were no casualties, Turkey's NTV television reported. NTV said the attacker left her weapon at the scene and escaped on foot, and that some police vehicles were damaged in the attack. Police officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The attack comes just over three weeks after a suicide bomber blew herself up at a police station in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district, killing one officer and wounding another. The hard-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) initially claimed responsibility for the Sultanahmet attack but later retracted its statement. Some Turkish newspaper reports have suggested the attack was orchestrated by Islamist militants. Kurdish separatists, Islamist radicals and far-left groups have all staged deadly attacks in the past in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city and a major European tourist destination. Taksim Square is a major transport hub, surrounded by hotels and lying at the end of one of the city's largest shopping streets. (Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Janet Lawrence)