Footage has emerged showing two women - one with a machine gun and the other a pistol - opening fire outside an Istanbul police station.

A passer-by can be seen running away as one assailant shoots at a police bus arriving at the station.

The CCTV footage shows the other attacker reach into her bag and hurl a hand grenade at the moving vehicle before she fires a handgun.

The pair fled the scene to a nearby building, where after a brief stand-off they were killed by riot police.

Special forces were deployed to the area and residents were evacuated before the police assault.

No claims of responsibility

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported the women had been identified as members of the leftist DHKP-C militant group.

However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attack.

Kurdish militants

Last month, a car bomb blast near a military headquarters in the Turkish capital of Ankara which killed 29 people and injured dozens of others was blamed on Kurdish militants.

The government said the suicide bombing was carried out by a member of the Syrian Kurdish militia assisted by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK - which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey.

The attack was eventually claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who have been linked to the PKK.

Turkey regards the Syrian Democratic Union Party (YPD), and its military wing, the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as terrorists because of their affiliation to Turkey's outlawed Kurdish rebel group.