Suicide bomber hits US Embassy in Turkey
Source: Agencies |
February 2, 2013, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A SUICIDE bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the US Embassy in Ankara yesterday, blowing the door off a side entrance and sending smoke and debris flying into the street.
Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the attacker was inside US property when the bomb was detonated. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall of the side entrance, but there did not appear to be any significant structural damage.
The bomber was also killed.
US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the building, which is surrounded by high walls, shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.
"We are very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone he said, thanking the Turkish authorities for a prompt response.
One wounded person was lifted into an ambulance as police armed with assault rifles cordoned off the area.
"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.
One witness said the blast was audible a mile away.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The British Consulate-General to Turkey said the blast a "suspected terrorist attack."
Islamist radicals, far-left groups, far-right groups and Kurdish separatist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
The main domestic security threat comes from the Kurdistan Workers Party, deemed a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey, but it has focused its campaign on domestic targets.
Turkey has led calls for international intervention in neighboring Syria and is hosting hundreds of NATO soldiers from the US, Germany and the Netherlands who are operating a Patriot missile defense system along its border with Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital. The US Patriots may go active in the coming days.
The most serious attacks of this kind in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146.
Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the attacker was inside US property when the bomb was detonated. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall of the side entrance, but there did not appear to be any significant structural damage.
The bomber was also killed.
US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the building, which is surrounded by high walls, shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.
"We are very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone he said, thanking the Turkish authorities for a prompt response.
One wounded person was lifted into an ambulance as police armed with assault rifles cordoned off the area.
"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.
One witness said the blast was audible a mile away.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The British Consulate-General to Turkey said the blast a "suspected terrorist attack."
Islamist radicals, far-left groups, far-right groups and Kurdish separatist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
The main domestic security threat comes from the Kurdistan Workers Party, deemed a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey, but it has focused its campaign on domestic targets.
Turkey has led calls for international intervention in neighboring Syria and is hosting hundreds of NATO soldiers from the US, Germany and the Netherlands who are operating a Patriot missile defense system along its border with Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital. The US Patriots may go active in the coming days.
The most serious attacks of this kind in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146.
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