A suicide bomber had detonated an explosive device in front of the interior ministry building in the Turkish capital, wounding two police officers.
Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that two blasts rocked the Kızılay, Ankara, building at 9.30am local time today.
Two men drove pulled up outside the entrance gate to the General Directorate of Security in a ‘light commercial vehicle’ and opened fire at security officers, local media said.
One of them blew himself up and the other was ‘neutralised’, Yerlikaya added, using a term often used by Turkish authorities to describe terrorists captured dead or alive.
"During the fire, two of our police officers were slightly injured. I wish a speedy recovery to our heroes.
Injured officers
In a second post at about 12.30pm, Yerlikaya named the two injured officers as Alim Reis Demirel and Erkan Karatas.
"Fortunately, it is not life-threatening. I wish a speedy recovery to our heroes," he said.
Turkish news network Haber Global reported that when the vehicle arrived, one of the men stepped out and fired shots at a guard with a long-barrelled gun.
The second man also reportedly had a bomb, with a controlled explosion carried out for security purposes on Mesrutiyet Street, Turkish national police said.
Bomb squads are inspecting the damaged vehicle.
