Ankara: Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov shot dead, gunman neutralised

The Russian ambassador to Ankara was shot dead in an attack at an art gallery in the Turkish capital on Monday.

The Russian foreign ministry confirmed the attack mounted as Ambassador Andrei Karlov made a speech at the opening of a photographic exhibition. Hurriyet newspaper said Turkish special forces had surrounded the building. NTV said three other people were wounded.

A Reuters witness said that while gunfire rang out for some time after the attack, it had now stopped. A Hurriyet newspaper reporter said the attacker chanted Islamist slogans.

Russia and Turkey have been involved in conflict in Syria across the border from where over two million Syrian refugees have settled. Turkey has been a staunch opponent of President Bashar al-Assad while Russia has deployed troops and its air force in support of the Syrian leader.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. Islamic State militants have been active in Turkey and carried out several bomb attacks on Turkish targets.
A photograph posted on twitter showed a man in a black suit holding a pistol, standing close to a podium in the gallery, its walls hung with pictures. Four people including what appeared to be the ambassador lay on the floor.

UPDATE new VIDEO: Clear footage of the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey pic.twitter.com/nirxA8Z6jG

— News_Executive (@News_Executive) December 19, 2016

UPDATE: The gunman shouted "we die in Aleppo, you die here" as he shot the Russian ambassador 5 times, he was then killed by security forces pic.twitter.com/rEBl3GCxdy

— News_Executive (@News_Executive) December 19, 2016

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Monday that the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, had died after being shot by a gunman.
"Today in Ankara as a result of an attack, the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Turkey, Andrey Gennadyevich Karlov, received a wound from which he died," Zakharova said.
"We regard this as a terrorist act."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency that President Vladimir Putin had been told about the attack and would be studying a report from the intelligence services and foreign ministry on the incident.