President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey

Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu says that the gunman who killed the Russian Ambassador to Ankara was a 22-year old man police officer.

A senior Turkish official identified the gunman as Turkish police officer Mert Altinbas, who graduated from the police academy in 2014.

He is a serving member of the riot police force for the past two-and-a-half years and his affiliations are still being investigated.

He assassinated Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey during a gallery opening in the capital.

Russian officials called it an act of terror and appeared to be aimed as retribution for the Kremlin’s role in bloodshed in neighbouring Syria.