Turkey police kill two women in raid on suspected militants

Turkish police killed two women in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday on a cell of suspected militants in Istanbul, media reports said.

The Dogan news agency said the clash, which also left four police lightly wounded, took place in the Gaziosmanpasa district in the north of the European side of the city.

The report did not specify which organisation the two suspects - described as "terrorists" - were affiliated with. 

But Gaziosmanpasa is known as a stronghold for supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the ultra-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C).

The report said the pair were part of a cell linked to a mysterious bomb attack on 1 December near an Istanbul metro station that wounded up to half a dozen people. 

No group ever claimed the attack, which appeared to have targeted a passing police vehicle.

The clash, which lasted half an hour, took place when militants opened fire on the police carrying out the raid, who responded, Dogan said.

Turkey remains on alert after 103 people were killed on 10 October when two suicide bombers ripped through a crowd of peace activists in the capital Ankara, the worst attack in modern Turkey's history.

In recent weeks, Turkish authorities have detained several suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) group with officials saying they were planning attacks in Istanbul.

Turkey has also been waging an all-out assault on the PKK in the southast of the country, killing more than 100 alleged militants and five civilians in the last week, according to military sources. Since the breakdown of a two-year ceasefire this summer, the PKK has resumed deadly attacks against members of the security forces in the southeast of the country.

Meanwhile the banned ultra-left wing DHKP-C has also staged a string of usually small-scale attacks in Istanbul over recent months.