Two women killed after grenade attack on Istanbul police station

Police have killed two female attackers who hurled grenades and opened fire at an Istanbul police station on Thursday, Turkish media reports said. 

The women took cover inside a nearby building after their attack, prompting a brief standoff with police before the attackers were killed in an assault.

There were no initial reports of injuries in the attack in the Bayrampasa area of the city. 

According to the Dogan news agency, the two women threw several grenades then opened fire at the riot police headquarters.

Footage from the same agency showed one woman opening fire while the second woman threw a grenade at a Turkish police bus as it arrived at the station.

Officers returned fire, injuring one of the attackers, and sealed off the area.

CNN-Turk said the two women then fled inside a nearby building.

Turkey has been on a state of alert for months since a series of deadly attacks on its soil. 

Last month, 29 people were killed in a car bombing that targeted a military convoy in Ankara, which was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who have been linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In 2015, there were four deadly bomb attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) militants, including the deadliest in Turkey's modern history that killed 103 people in Ankara in October.

There have also been sporadic attacks by radicals from the outlawed ultra-leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C).