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.