After two attackers detonated a bomb in front of Turkish government buildings in Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called the attack as "the latest attempt" to inflict terror on Turks, news agency Reuters reported. Addressing the opening of a new parliamentary session hours, President Erdogan stated: "Those who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not achieved their goals and never will." Both attackers were killed, and two police officers were injured, in what officials dubbed the capital's first terrorist incident in years.
CCTV footage acquired by Reuters showed a car drive up to the front gate of the Interior Ministry, with one of its passengers immediately heading inside the building before being enveloped in an explosion, while the other remained on the street.
The bomb killed one of the terrorists, while officials "neutralised," or killed, the other, according to the interior minister, of the event that shook a key sector that houses ministerial buildings and the surrounding parliament.
The bombing on Ataturk Boulevard was the first in Ankara since 2016, when the country was hit by a wave of devastating assaults. Following video showed a Renault freight vehicle parked there with glass damaged and doors open, surrounded by troops, ambulances, fire trucks, and armoured vehicles.
According to a senior Turkish official, the assailants kidnapped the truck and killed its driver near Kayseri, 260 kilometres (161 miles) southeast of Ankara, before carrying out the attack. He stated that one of the injured cops had shrapnel injuries.
Taking to X (previously known as Twitter) Turkish interior minister Ali Yerlikaya stated: "Two terrorists came with a light commercial vehicle in front of the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of our Ministry of Internal Affairs and carried out a bomb attack."
He stated that the two cops were mildly hurt in the 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) incident.
"Our struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised," he declared, echoing other Turkish leaders' censure.