1 Injured as Attacks in Ankara Target Ministry, Party HQ
Assailants on Tuesday fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the headquarters of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party and hurled two hand grenades at the Justice Ministry's parking lot, slightly wounding one person, officials said.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler said no one was injured in the attack on the ruling Justice and Development Party headquarters, while the spouse of a Justice Ministry employee was treated for a slight injury in the second assault.
Guler said the attack on the party headquarters shattered windows but caused no major damage. Erdogan had left Turkey hours earlier for a visit to Denmark.
The minister said a terrorist group was responsible for the attacks, but he declined to identify it.
The attacks follow a police crackdown on a banned left-wing group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front . That group, autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels and Islamic militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey.
Tuesday's grenade attacks came as Turkey is holding peace talks with the Kurdish rebels' jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in a bid to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. Turkish leaders had warned of possible attacks aimed at derailing the talks.
"We were expecting possible sabotage attempts," Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin told reporters after inspecting the damage at his ministry. "(But) no sabotage attempt can turn us back from this path."
Source: Associated Press
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