A group of protestors hurled a molotov cocktail onto a bus in Istanbul's Bagcilar suburb and an elderly woman who got off in panic from the burning vehicle was hit by a car in the street, dying in hospital, the channel said.

Two more bodies were recovered after police removed the wreckage of the bus, which crashed into a truck while maneuvering to escape the hit, it said.

Another woman passenger was seriously injured.

Television footage showed firefighters battling the flames engulfing the bus, which was reduced to a blackened skeleton.

Police officials contacted by AFP declined to comment.

A group of angry residents who gathered at the site chanted slogans against Kurdish separatism, NTV television reported.