1 Israeli Arab killed and 2 wounded in a shooting on a street in Istanbul

ISTANBUL (AP) — Police in Istanbul launched a large-scale investigation after an Israeli Arab man was killed and two other men were wounded in a shooting as they sat in a car, officials and media said Monday.

The dead man was identified as businessman Abdulkadir Anas. His father denied there had been any political motive for the attack.

“We have no business with politics, we are Israeli Arabs of Palestinian origin,” the father told the Demiroren News Agency, which did not publish his name. All three had been originally identified as Palestinians by local media.

The apparently professional nature of the attack, in which a silenced handgun was used and left behind at the scene, had led to widespread speculation in the Turkish media over whether Israel may have been involved. Turkey has for years provided haven for Hamas officials. In December, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said that his organization was prepared to target Hamas anywhere, including in Turkey, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Istanbul Governor’s Office later said the attack was motivated by a dispute over money and that three suspects thought to have been directly involved had fled abroad, crossing the Bulgarian border within 2 1/2 hours of the shooting.

In a statement on social media, the governor’s office said the attackers used three different cars in their escape from Turkey in an effort to thwart detection. At least seven people had been involved in planning and carrying out the attack, it said.

“Interviews with their families determined that they committed the incident because of a debt,” the statement said. Four arrests have been made and two weapons recovered.

In the attack late Sunday, Anas’ friend was seriously wounded and remains in critical condition. The other man, who the governor’s office described as a bodyguard, was injured in the foot.

The shooting on Dilaver Street in the Kagithane district of north Istanbul was carried out by a masked assailant. Security camera footage showed a man approaching the car on foot and opening fire. One of the victim’s crawls out of the car and stumbles into a restaurant across the road, followed by the gunman. A few seconds later the assailant emerges and runs away.

Photographs from the scene showed a semi-automatic handgun with a silencer lying on the sidewalk next to a white car parked between two other vehicles. The car’s rear passenger door nearest the sidewalk appeared to have been punctured by several bullets.

Video published by Demiroren showed police officers in forensics overalls scouring the area around the car and using laser pens to seemingly track the trajectory of the rounds fired. The footage also showed a body being transferred from the car to an ambulance.