Gunman Wounds 2 Near Istanbul's Palace

ISTANBUL – Turkey's interior minister says a gunman shot dead after wounding a soldier and a security guard at the entrance of Istanbul's Topkapi Palace was a Libyan national.

Idris Naim Sahin says the 36-year-old man entered Turkey on Sunday.

The motive of Wednesday's attack was not immediately clear. Turkey supported the popular uprising in Libya against the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.

Multiple gun shots were heard from behind high walls of the Topkapi Palace, which is across the city's Blue Mosque, an Associated Press Television editor at the scene said.

A picture by IHA news agency showed the man carrying at least two rifles and a cartridge belt around his neck. The picture shows the man wearing black overcoat, cap and also carrying a backpack.

Istanbul's Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the motive of the attack was not immediately known.

Witnesses told state-run TRT television and NTV television that the man shot the soldier in the leg and the guard in the abdomen before running into the palace courtyard, chanting in Arabic "God is Great!".

State-run TRT television said the man also seized the weapon of the wounded soldier.