For the second time in five years, the United States Embassy has come under attack. On Friday, a suicide bomber set off an explosive device inside a security checkpoint outside the side entrance to the embassy in Ankara.
Killed in the attack was a Turkish National working as a guard at the embassy, the bomber and possibly one other. Several other injuries were also reported. The explosion blew the door partially off of its hinges and spread debris over the street.
At a ceremony in Istabul, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said, “The suicide bomber was ripped apart and one or two citizens from the special security team passed away.”
Although no one has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack, it is suspected that the terrorist group The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front may have had something to do with the incident. The group is strongly anti-American and may have set off the explosion in protest over the approximately 400 U.S. troops who have been transported to the country to operate the Patriot anti-missile batteries recently set up there as protection against possible aerial attacks from Turkey’s neighbor, Syria.
It was in 2008 that three gunman and three police officers were killed in an attack at the front of the U.S. Embassy in Istabul. There, the three gunmen arrived in an unlicensed taxi cab and opened fire, killing three police officers. The driver later turned himself in, he had no prior connection with the gunmen.
The U.S. Embassy put out a brief release after today’s incident, saying, “The US Embassy would like to thank the Turkish Government, the media, and members of the public for their expressions of solidarity and outrage over the incident.”