Shots fired outside Istanbul palace

Turkish police arrested two suspects carrying automatic weapons after the assailants reportedly fired shots at officers guarding Istanbul’s Dolmabahce palace Wednesday.

Ambulances were sent to the area around the building and police sealed off the roads, although there are no reports of casualties.

The Ottoman-era building is popular with tourists and also houses the prime minister's Istanbul offices, the Dogan news agency said.

The attackers were reportedly caught quickly after they allegedly targeted police guarding the entrance of the palace, with unconfirmed reports of an explosion.

There was no immediate indication of who was behind the attack.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu was in the capital Ankara as reports of the attack emerged but he did not interrupt a speech being broadcast on live television.

The country has been in a heightened state of alert since Turkey launched air strikes against “Islamic State” (IS) fighters in Syria and Kurdish PKK militants in northern Iraq last month in a "synchronized war on terror.”

Turkey also faces a threat from far-leftist militants, with the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C) claiming responsibility earlier this month for an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul.

Two women were shot at the consulate building, with one of the attackers hurt in an exchange of fire, but there were no other casualties.

mh/kms (AFP, AP, Reuters)