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ByLefterisPitarakis and Suzan Fraser The Associated Press ISTANBUL Twofemaleas- sailants opened fire at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul on Monday and at least six Turkish security forces were killed elsewhere in a day of heavy violence in Turkey, where a govern- ment crackdown has tar- geted Islamic State mili- tants, Kurdish rebels and far-left extremists. Turkey has seen a sharp spike in clashes between security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the a wake of its campaign against PKK targets in Iraq in tan- dem with airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria. Hundreds of sus- pected militants have also been rounded up at home. No one was hurt in the attack on the U.S. Consul- ate, which came just weeks after Turkey agreed to take a more active role in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State group and to allow the U.S.-led coali- tion to use its bases in the fight against IS. On Sunday, the U.S. military announced that a detachment of six F-16 fighter jets and some 300 personnel had arrived at Turkey's southern Incir- lik Air Base. A far-left group that carried out a 2013 suicide bombing on the U.S. Em- bassy in Ankara claimed it was involved in the attack. Both assailants fled, and one was later shot and taken into custody. The Revolu- tionary People's Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C identified her as 51-year- old Hatice Asik and said she was a member of the group, which is considered a ter- rorist organization by the U.S. and Turkey. The other assailant was still at large. In a statement on its website the group described Asik as a "revolutionary" fighting American oppres- sion and vowed to maintain its struggle until Turkey is "cleared" of all U.S. bases on its territory. Turkey's Foreign Minis- try condemned the attack and said security at U.S. missions around the coun- try had been increased. It said Turkey was determined to fight terrorism through "cooperation and solidar- ity" with its NATO ally. In Washington, State De- partment Spokesman John Kirby said U.S. officials were working with Turkish authorities to investigate the incident. He said the consulate would reopen for business on Tuesday. Hours after the attack, police wearing flak jackets and holding machine guns blocked off streets leading to the consulate. The build- ing, which is surrounded by fortified walls, was intact and its flag was flying. Earlier Monday, an over- night bomb attack at a po- lice station in Istanbul in- jured three policemen and seven civilians and caused a fire that collapsed part of the building. The suspected bomber was killed in the ex- plosion, according to the Is- tanbul governor's office. Unknown assailants later fired on police inspect- ing the scene of the explo- sion, sparking another gun- fight with police that killed a police officer and two as- sailants. There was no im- mediate claim of responsi- bility for the attack, but the state-run Anadolu Agency, quoting unnamed police sources, said it was carried out by the PKK. Meanwhile, violence in- tensified between security forces and Kurdish rebels in the mainly Kurdish south- east on Monday, where reb- els in the province of Sirnak fired at a helicopter carry- ing conscripts, killing one and injuring another, the military said. Four policemen were also killed in Sirnak when their armored vehicle was attacked with a roadside bomb, the Dogan news agency reported. Turkey last month car- ried out a major security sweep, detaining some 1,300 people suspected of links to banned organiza- tions, including the PKK, the DHKP-C and extremists of the Islamic State group. Turkey has recently started taking a more active role against IS militants. Last month it conducted aerial strikes against IS po- sitions in Syria and agreed to let the U.S.-led coalition use its bases for its fight against IS. ATTACK ON CONSULATE DayofviolenceinTurkeyleavesatleast9dead AKINCELIKTAS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Turkish police officers work near the site of an explosion at a police station, seen right, in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli neighborhood early Monday. By Asif Shahzad The Associated Press HUSSAIN KHAN WALA, PAKI- STAN In this dusty town near Pakistan's border with India, families kept quiet for years about the black- mail gang that locals be- lieve filmed some 270 chil- dren being sexually abused, fearful the videos could ap- pear online or sold in mar- kets for as little as 50 cents. Those living in Hussain Khan Wala say the gang forced children at gunpoint to be abused or drugged them into submission. It was only after one family spoke up that others rose against the gang, with police later arresting 11 suspects. But as Pakistan recoils in horror at the scope of the abuse, the case shows the dangers here facing poor children, many of whom work as domestic servants and face abuse at the hands of their employers. It also raises questions about how such a gang could operate for years, with some ques- tioning Pakistan's police and political elite. "They destroyed me," one victim said. "They de- stroyed my family. They just killed me" The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual abuse. The gang likely began targeting its victims years earlier, Kasur district police chief Rai Babar Saeed told the AP. Saeed said police al- ready confiscated some 30 videos, nearly all of which included sexual abuse of children as young as 12. The gang then used the videos to extort money from fam- ilies, threatening to release them publicly and shame their children and their rel- atives, Saeed said. If a family couldn't pay, there were some cases in which a victim would be forced to find another child to be filmed being abused, said Latif Sarra, a lawyer representing some victims. He, as well as other town residents interviewed by the AP, said the gang filmed at least 270 children being abused. Saeed said he didn't know of that many children being involved. "It was a gang that has 15 to 21 members. These peo- ple have been ... raping boys and girls under the age of 15 and then filming them since 2009," Sarra said. "It is a case of extortion. It is their business." Investigation Saeed said authorities be- gan investigating the case in June after receiving a com- plaint, but many families declined to press charges, even after officers drove through the town of Hus- sain Khan Wala, asking over loudspeakers for victims to come forward. But on Aug. 4, Pakistani media reported that hundreds of protesters descended on a Kusar police station and briefly fought with officers, demanding in- vestigators take action. On Monday, a court in Kasur ordered five suspects in the case held without bail. Six others also have been arrested in connec- tion to the case. Haseem Amir, accused by police of being one of the ringleaders in the gang, shouted to journalists from lockup: "We have got noth- ing to do with it!" "We have been trapped!" Amir yelled. A lawyer for him and the others arrested could not be immediately reached. The allegations have dominated Pakistani news- papers and television sta- tions. Many compared it to the case of Javed Iqbal, a man in Punjab's provin- cial capital, Lahore, who one day in 1999 confessed to kidnapping, sexually abusing and dissolving the bodies of some 100 children in acid. Families identified their children from scraps of clothing left behind or by the snapshots he took of each of them before their death. Later sentenced to death, Iqbal killed himself in prison in October 2001. Such horrors, while sick- ening to this Muslim-major- ity country of 180 million, happen as children remain vulnerable. Child labor is common in Pakistan, and children as young as 5 are "bought, sold, rented or kid- napped and placed in orga- nized begging rings, domes- tic servitude, small shops, brick kilns and prostitu- tion," the U.S. State Depart- ment said last year. Paki- stan also has a huge pop- ulation of at-risk Afghan refugees, though those in- volved in this blackmail ring appear all to be from Pakistan, officials said. Political implications The abuse allegations also carry political impli- cations in Pakistan, whose young democracy remains challenged by Islamic ex- tremists and a history of military coups. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Shahbaz, is Punjab province's chief minister and rumors al- ready have circulated link- ing police and politicians to the blackmail ring. On Monday, opposi- tion politician and former cricket star Imran Khan accused Punjab officials of "politicizing the police." "That is why the force is unable to check criminal activities and a tragedy like Kasur," Khan told support- ers at a rally in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pak- htunkhwa province. "We will force the government through the independent media to chase the real cul- prits and punish them in an exemplary manner." Saeed, the police chief, said he hadn't seen any signs of political interference in the case and denied any im- propriety by police. How- ever, Sarra, the victims' law- yer, said he believed police were downplaying the case and that at least one local politician could be involved. 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