ISTANBUL: An assailant on Thursday took people hostage at a plant owned by US cosmetics giant Procter & Gamble near Istanbul in protest at the war in Gaza, a police spokesman said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were being held at the plant, which lies on the eastern outskirts of Turkey’s largest city, the spokesman told AFP.

A union representing workers at the consumer goods factory said the assailant was holding seven people, adding that the rest of the plant’s workers had been released.

A P&G spokesman said the site employs 500 people across multiple shifts, meaning that not all of them would have been working at the time of the attack.

“Earlier today, we evacuated our Gebze facility and are working with local authorities to resolve an urgent security situation,” the company said in a statement released to AFP, adding that it had no information about the assailant’s motives.

“The safety of P&G people and our partners is our top priority,” the Cincinnati, Ohio based company added.

The private DHA news agency published a photo widely circulated online of the alleged assailant holding a gun and what appeared to be a suicide vest strapped to his chest.

The man was standing next to a drawing of the Palestinian flag and the words “for Gaza” painted on the wall in red.

AFP could not immediately verify the image.

“It is true,” the police spokesman said when asked to confirmed media reports that the attack was linked to Gaza.

Footage from the scene showed police setting up a cordon around the sprawling plant.

Special operation forces and medical personnel were dispatched to the scene, Turkish media reported.