A suicide bomber and a U.S. embassy guard were killed in a "terrorist blast" outside the U.S. Embassy in Turkey today, Turkish and American officials said.
The explosion, which occurred at a checkpoint to the embassy in Ankara in the early afternoon local time, also wounded two other guards and at least one civilian, identified by Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler as a female journalist. She is in critical condition, Guler said.
Guler said the suicide bomber was a man and may have been connected to an outlawed leftist party, according to a report by The Associated Press.
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"It was a sad event, but this attack should remind us the necessity to work against terror together," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan said.
Television footage from the scene showed damage to a part of an outer gatehouse, which is adjacent to the main building.
Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was a "stark reminder of the constant terrorist threat against U.S. facilities, personnel and interests abroad."
U.S. officials said that Turkish police are investigating the incident.
The blast comes nearly five months after U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, was killed alongside three other Americans in an attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
'Terrorist Blast' at US Embassy in Turkey
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'Terrorist Blast' at US Embassy in Turkey
