Istanbul ( CNN ) A prosecutor involved in a controversial case died Tuesday after he was shot during a hostage siege in an Istanbul courthouse . Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz died in the hospital from injuries he suffered during the attack , Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said , speaking to reporters on Turkish television . The two gunmen who took the prosecutor hostage were killed in a shootout with police after a standoff that lasted for hours . Kiraz was assigned to the controversial case of Berkin Elvan , a 15-year-old boy who was injured during the anti-government Gezi Park protests in June 2013 . The teen died the following March after having spent nine months in a coma . The case , with its overtones of possible police overreaction , has been politically contentious , just as the protests themselves were . In an online post widely cited in Turkish media , the left-wing Revolutionary People 's Liberation Party-Front claimed responsibility for the attack . The post said the gunmen were seeking to avenge Elvan 's death . President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the gunmen as terrorists and said they were disguised as lawyers when they entered the courthouse . `` This is not to be taken lightly , '' he said . The gunmen took the prosecutor hostage around 12:30 p.m. in his office on the sixth floor of the Caglayan district courthouse , the semiofficial Anadolu Agency reported . Police evacuated that floor of the building , the agency reported , and snipers were deployed . An explosion , followed by sounds of more gunshots , could be heard coming from the courthouse Tuesday evening , hours after the siege began . Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altinok said Kiraz had been shot before Turkish security teams entered the room where the hostage crisis was unfolding . `` There is nothing else to do but to pray at this moment , '' Erdogan said . The Revolutionary People 's Liberation Party-Front , known as the DHKP-C , is viscerally hostile to the Turkish state , the United States and NATO , and has had links with the far left in Europe . The Marxist-Leninist group claimed responsibility for a 2013 suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara . Among other attacks attributed to the DHKP-C was the assassination of a former justice minister , Mehmet Topac , in 1994 , as well as the murders of a number of senior police and military officials and , 1996 , a prominent businessman , Ozdemir Sabanci . CNN 's Gul Tuysuz reported from Istanbul . CNN 's Don Melvin reported from London . CNN 's Nimet Kirac reported from Atlanta . CNN 's Catherine E. Shoichet , Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister contributed to this report .
The left-wing Revolutionary People 's Liberation Party-Front claims responsibility . Prosecutor Recep Tayyip Erdogan dies after a hostage siege in Istanbul . Prosecutor was assigned to the case of a teen who was injured in anti-government protests .