(The Independent) The Russian ambassador to Turkey has died after being shot in the capital city of Ankara, the Russian foreign ministry has confirmed.
Andrey Karlov was shot in the back as he made a speech at a photo exhibit in the Turkish capital.
Mr. Karlov was several minutes into a speech at the embassy-sponsored exhibition when a man wearing a suit and tie shouted “Allahu akbar” and fired at least eight shots, according to an AP photographer in the audience.
The gunman also reportedly shouted: “We die in Aleppo, you die here.”
Video appears to show the alleged shooter shouting “don’t forget Aleppo, Syria,” according to local reports.
Turkish police shot and killed the gunman, Turkey’s NTV reported.
Russia has said it regards the killing of its ambassador to Ankara “as a terrorist attack”.
“Today in Ankara as a result of an attack, the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Turkey, Andrey Gennadyevich Karlov, received a wound from which he died,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“We regard this as a terrorist act.”
Mr. Karlov was 62 and joined the diplomatic service in 1976. He served as Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang in 2001-2006 and later worked as the chief of the Foreign Ministry’s consular department.
He had served as the ambassador to Turkey since 2013.
