ANKARA, Turkey, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Gunmen attacked a police station late Sunday, killing a policeman in the second such incident in Turkey in 24 hours.
Turkey's official TRT television said the attackers opened fire and tossed grenades at the police station in the city of Mardin in southeast Turkey, killing one officer.
Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and began a thorough search for the gunmen, who are believed to belong to terrorist organizations involved in the Istanbul bombing attacks that killed 51 people and wounded hundreds of others last month.
The attack on Mardin's police station came less than 24 hours after a similar operation that targeted the police center in the city of Sirte.
Kurdish sources said it was unlikely the attack was carried out by the Kurdish Labor Party, the PKK, which abandoned violence in 1999. They suspect extremist Islamic groups, such as the Turkish Hezbollah Party or groups linked to the al-Qaida network.
Turkish newspapers have speculated the armed attacks and bombings could be the work of Fadel Nazzal Khalaileh, better known Abu Misaab al-Zarqawi, a 36-year-old Jordanian believed to be a close aide to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The United States has offered a $5 million award for information leading to the arrest of Zarqawi, who is also being sought by the Jordanian authorities and believed to be hiding in northern Iraq.
