ISTANBUL, May 4: A lone ethnic Chechen gunman burst into a busy five-star hotel in Istanbul on Saturday, fired a Kalashnikov rifle and briefly took 13 hostages before surrendering to police, security and hotel officials said.

In the latest in a string of Chechen hostage cases in Turkey, Cem Gundes, manager of the Marmara Hotel in central Taksim Square, said: “I heard he did this in support of Chechnya.”

He named the gunman, an ethnic Chechen from eastern Turkey, as Mustafa Yildirim. None of the hostages, who included four Bulgarians, three Japanese and six Turks, were hurt, according to a security official.

Turkish NTV television said the man had wanted to make a statement supporting rebels in Russia’s breakaway province of Chechnya, where Russian forces still face guerrilla resistance to Moscow’s rule.

Moscow has fought two wars to pacify the Muslim northern Caucasus region. Ankara insists it is cracking down on Chechen rebels who have used Turkey in the past as a safe haven, but the Kremlin is far from convinced.

Police arrived quickly at the scene and sealed off the hotel which was packed with 550 guests, many of them foreign tourists.

“He entered the hotel and approached reception,” Gundes said. Security officials asked him to open his bag and saw the gun. “All of a sudden he took the Kalashnikov from the bag and started firing around, five shots in all.”

The gunman surrendered without any resistance within an hour after security police entered the hotel, a tall modern building. The freed hostages were later interviewed by police in a room of the hotel.

Russia has alleged that Turkish organisations have offered financial support to Chechnya’s militants but Turkey, which hosts a substantial number of exiled Chechens, has always insisted there has been no official support for the rebels.

FEARS FOR TOURISM: Hotel manager Gundes, raising a fear that frequently haunts Turkey, said he did not believe the incident would discourage tourists. Turkey relies heavily on revenues from foreign tourists to help it out of its worst recession since 1945.—Reuters