Ankara: A man was shot and wounded by Turkish police outside the Israeli Embassy in Ankara after he brandished a knife and shouted slogans on Wednesday, but initial inquiries indicated he had no links to any organised group, officials said.
The man, a 41-year-old from the central city of Konya, was carrying a bag and brandishing a 30cm (12-inch) knife as he approached the embassy, the Ankara governor’s office said in a statement.
He was shot in the leg after he ignored a warning from the police, it said, adding he did not appear to be linked to a group.
“According to initial examinations ... (the man) appears mentally unstable; no criminal record or organisational links have been found.” Turkey faces multiple security threats, including from Daesh militants blamed for bombings in Istanbul and elsewhere, and Kurdish militants following the resumption of a three-decade insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast last year.
Police told Reuters the man shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) outside the embassy before he was shot. Police examined his bag, a Reuters photographer at the scene said. The area outside was only briefly cordoned off.
“The staff is safe. The attacker was wounded before he reached the embassy,” an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a text message, adding that the man was apprehended at the outer perimeter of the secured zone around the embassy.
Turkish media reports initially suggested that there had been two attackers, but the governor’s office and police made no mention of a second assailant.
