Suicide bomber detonates device near Turkish Parliament, a second assailant killed in shootout

Turkiye's interior affairs minister said that a suicide bomber attack in capital Ankara left two police officers slightly injured. The attack occurred hours before Parliament was scheduled to reopen following a summer recess.

Ankara (Turkey) : Turkiye's interior affairs minister says a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near his ministry on Sunday while a second assailant was killed in a shootout with police. Ali Yerlikaya said two police officers were slightly injured during the attack in the Turkish capital, Ankara. The attack occurred hours before Parliament was scheduled to reopen following a summer recess.

Turkish media's initial reports said a loud explosion was heard in the heart of the Turkish capital today. The cause of the explosion in an area near the Parliament and Ministry of Interior Affairs was not immediately known. Parliament is scheduled to reopen on Sunday after a summer recess. Officials rushed to the spot on receiving information about the blast. Rescue efforts are given immediate priority. Investigation is going on. The exact reason for the detonation is not known yet and nobody has claimed responsibility for the same.

Last July, a suicide bomber attack on a political convention of a hardline Islamist party left 44 killed in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The initial probe at that time showed that banned outfit Daesh (ISIS) was involved, Geo News quoted police officials as saying. Several hundreds of people were injured in this ghastly incident that shook a nation that was already mired in financial crisis.