1 killed, another captured after rocket attack in Ankara

Turkish authorities on Sunday say they’d killed a suspected assailant and injured another after a rocket attack on two police buildings in Ankara.

The state-run Anadoglu press agency said the rockets, launched late Friday, damaged one of the buildings but did not cause injuries. An official said it was “a miracle” that no one was hurt in the attack.

The assailants used rocket launchers and appeared to have used false identities to get close to the site. Authorities were investigating whether an intelligence failure enabled the attackers to get close to the police buildings while armed, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Some 5,000 police officers participated in the hunt for the attackers, who fled the scene on foot. According to a police statement, authorities believe that the attackers were members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a far-left group that is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.

One of the attackers, police said, is believe to be linked to a March flame-thrower attack on the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) headquarters in March. The DHKP/C has claimed responsibility for numerous political attacks in Turkey, including a suicide bombing at the US embassy in Ankara in February.

Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said police later recovered evidence, including an unexploded rocket, from bushes near the scene of the attack. Anadoglu said that police intercepted the two suspects near a university campus and subdued them after a firefight.

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