A suicide bomber blasted the front of the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capitol of Ankara on Friday after he detonated a bomb, killing himself and a Turkish guard. According to the Associated Press, Turkish authorities are blaming the attack on domestic leftists.
The attack, which occurred at 1:15 p.m., also seriously injured a Turkish woman and inflicted light wounds on two other guards, Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters. Turkey and the U.S. have condemned the attack, which is being referred to as "a terrorist attack" by the White House.
Reports state that the explosion occurred inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance to the U.S. embassy. According to Voice of America, security cameras at the checkpoint were not working at the time of the attack because power had been down in the area.
Istanbul authorities identified the bomber as Ecevit Shanli, a member of DHKP-C, a Marxist Leninist terror group, CNN reported. International Strategic Research Organization security expert Hasan Selim Ozertem told CNN that the attacks could be related to arrests of several DHKP-C members two weeks ago.
"Right now we are all dealing with our sadness at the loss of our fellow member of our embassy," U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said in a statement. "We salute his bravery, his service to Turkey and to Turkey-American friendship. Our hearts go out to his family."
According to the AP, U.S. officials have urged American citizens to stay away from all U.S. diplomatic offices throughout Turkey. Voice of America reported that the embassy and the surrounded area had cordoned it off and were taking precautions against the possibility of another attack. CNN reported that the FBI will join local law enforcement to investigate the bombing.
Ambassador Ricciardone told reporters that the U.S. and Turkey "will continue to fight terrorism together." He continued, "From today's event, it is clear that we both suffer from this terrible, terrible problem of today's world. We are determined after events like this even more to cooperate together until we defeat this problem together."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported the sentiment, and said, "We will stand firm and we will overcome this together."
The attack on the U.S. embassy follows just months after a deadly terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.