ISTANBUL: Russia’s ambassador to Ankara Andrey Karlov on Monday killed in a gun attack while visiting an art exhibition opening in the Turkish capital, television reports said.
Karlov was hospitalised and several other people were wounded in the attack by an unknown gunman, NTV and CNN-Turk televisions said.
Later, he succumbed to wounds while being treated in the hospital.
The attack came after days of protests in Turkey over Russia’s role in Syria, although Moscow and Ankara are now working closely together to evacuate citizens from Aleppo.
Pictures published by the Hurriyet daily showed at least two men in suits lying flat on the ground as another man brandished a gun.
The attack happened at the Cagdas Sanatlar Merkezi, a major art exhibition hall in the Cankaya district of Ankara where most foreign embassies are located including Russia’s mission.
The attacker named as Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş (22-year old) who shot Russia’s ambassador to Ankara in a gun attack on Monday has been “neutralised” in a police operation, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
“The person has been neutralised in a police operation,” Anadolu said, using a term in Turkish that usually means that the individual has been killed but can also mean captured alive.
Russia Today reported that MrKarlov was injured as he prepared to deliver a speech at the opening of the exhibition on ‘Russia in the eyes of Turks’.
Eyewitnesses told the TASS news agency that several shots were fired and the gunman shouted ‘Get out!’
Today’s shooting comes 24 hours before the Turkish foreign minister MevlütÇavuşoğlu is due in Moscow for talks with his Russian and Iranian counterparts.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as Russian-backed Syrian forces have fought for control of the eastern part of the city of Aleppo, triggering a stream of refugees.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. Daesh militants have been active in Turkey and carried out several bomb attacks on Turkish targets.
On the other hand, The United States condemned the gun attack on the Russian ambassador to Turkey, the U.S. State Department said.
‘We condemn this act of violence, whatever its source,’ said U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby in a statement, ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.’
Russia’s President Putin and Turkey’s President Erdogan have been increasingly friendly in recent months. Relations between Moscow and Ankara worsened after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane which crossed over the Syrian border in November 2015 but have warmed up again recently.
Protesters in Turkey have held Moscow responsible for human rights violations in Aleppo.
