Bomber attacks US embassy in Ankara, Turkey

A suicide attack outside the US embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, has killed the bomber and a security guard, Turkish officials say.

The US ambassador confirmed that a member of the embassy's Turkish staff had been killed.


Video shows damage to a checkpoint although reports say there was no damage inside the embassy.
One other person was wounded by the blast, in an area also home to other diplomatic missions.
Embassy staff were taken to secure rooms in the building, a reporter told Turkish channel NTV.
No group has so far said it carried out the attack.

A number of illegal groups ranging from Kurdish separatists to leftist and Islamist militants have launched attacks in recent years in Turkey, which is a member of Nato.

The last big attack in Ankara in 2007, which killed nine and injured 120, was blamed by police investigators on a lone, leftist suicide bomber.

The Turkish provincial governor, Alaattin Yuksel, told reporters: "There were two dead in the suicide bombing, a Turkish security guard and the bomber himself."

US Ambassador Francis Ricciardione told reporters a guard at the embassy's gate had been killed in the blast at 13:15 (11:15 GMT, and a Turkish citizen had been wounded.

US ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. told reporters the situation was "very sad"
An AP journalist saw a woman who appeared to be seriously injured being carried into an ambulance.
A witness, who works in an Iran Air travel agency opposite the embassy. said he had seen a body being removed by ambulance. The agency's windows were blown out by the blast.

The area around the embassy was swarming with police, former BBC journalist Golnar Motevalli said.

While the blast was very loud, she added, the damage seemed to have been limited to the vicinity of the blast and no smoke was visible afterwards.

The US embassy building is heavily protected but has had long-standing plans to move its compound elsewhere for security reasons.

It was recently reported to be in the final stages of finalising a deal to choose an alternative venue.
The German and French embassies are situated close by.