Suspected bomber triggered security sensors
Photo: Reuters
Turkey: Suspected bomber shot dead
Witnesses say man had attempted to enter Justice Ministry building, near Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office
ANKARA, Turkey - (Video) Police shot dead a suspected suicide bomber at Turkey's Justice Ministry on Friday after he apparently tried to set off an explosive device.
Turkish television showed live footage of police shooting at the man, said to be between 25 and 30 years old, in a street in the leafy government district of the capital Ankara. A Reuters correspondent saw the man lying dead in a pool of blood.
See video courtesy of Reuters:
Witnesses said the man had tried to enter the ministry, near Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office, at around 9:15 a.m. local time, but triggered the security sensors.
Police grabbed him after he apparently set off a detonator but failed to explode his main device. He escaped into the street where police shot him first in the leg and then in the head, the witnesses said.
Police gave no immediate confirmation of the details but they gave the bomber's name as Eyup Beyaz and said he was known to be a member of Turkey's largest far-left faction, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front.
Earlier, Turkish television had given the man's name as Muharrem Akyurt from documents found on his body.
Two bomb disposal experts in protective clothing examined the man's corpse after police cordoned off the area.
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, clearly anxious to avert possible criticism from the European Union that Turkish police are trigger-happy, said they had to shoot the man because he had a bomb on him.
Istanbul hit repeatedly
“The security forces first fired warning shots, but because the aggressor continued to run towards a crowded bus station, they had to shoot him," Cicek said in televised remarks.
"Turkey will continue to improve its human rights and democracy," he added.
Turkey is due to start EU entry talks in October. The EU has expressed concern in the past over police brutality in Turkey.
Turkey has a long history of bombings mounted by a wide range of groups, from leftists to Islamists and Kurdish separatists, although suicide attacks are rare.
Four devastating suicide bomb attacks claimed by a group linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network killed more than 60 people in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul in November 2003.
Dozens of people are now being tried for involvement in those bombings, which struck Jewish and British targets.
