Terrorists carry out bomb attack near government building in Ankara, Turkey
Authorities say two terrorists carried out a bomb attack in front of Turkey’s Interior Ministry building in Ankara before the opening of parliament on Sunday.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that two police officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the incident.
At around 9:30 a.m. local time, the attackers arrived in a light commercial vehicle in front of the building’s entrance, Yerlikaya. One attacker blew himself up, while the other was “neutralized.”
Reuters received security footage of the event, which shows a vehicle slowing down on the street near the building’s gated entry.
The car stops, and the driver’s side door gently opens. One person exits while another emerges from the other side of the automobile. While the first hides behind the car, the second approaches the entryway in a tactical position. However, it’s unclear if the attacker is holding a handgun. The attacker, in motion, rushes past what appears to be a security tower. Then there’s a big explosion.
Before the 40-second clip concludes, the shapes of what looks to be the first attacker advance near the gate through the smoke.
The apparent guard tower in front of the building’s entryway was partially damaged in the blast. Since then, police have roped off the area, and a video from CNN affiliate CNN Turk showed a bomb squad examining the site for other suspicious packages.
After the attack, a bomb on the body of the neutralized terrorist was set off in a controlled explosion, one of at least two that could be heard on television footage.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an investigation into the incident has begun.
“These attacks will in no way hinder Turkey’s fight against terrorism,” Tunc stated on X. “Our fight against terrorism will continue even more determinedly.”
The incident occurred only hours before lawmakers were scheduled to return to work following their summer break at 2 p.m.
As of Sunday morning, no group had claimed credit.
Terror incidents were tragically common in Turkey in the mid to late 2010s as insecurity from war-torn Syria spread north above the two nations’ shared border.
In 2016, Kurdish assailants carried out two attacks in Ankara, one on military personnel on a bus and the other at a bus stop.
Nearly 100 people were killed in twin explosions in 2015 that targeted a peace gathering near the capital’s central railway station.