Rockets target police buildings in Ankara

PanARMENIAN.Net - An attack involving three rockets targeted two police buildings in Ankara’s Dikmen neighborhood on Friday, Sept 20 evening.

There were no casualties as a result of the attack, according to the Health Ministry. However, the rockets have caused material damage to one of the buildings targeted, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Police officers were immediately dispatched to the scene. One of the suspected perpetrators was killed, and the other injured.

Interior Minister Muammer Güler arrived at the scene a few minutes after the attack.

“There are no deaths or injuries. The perpetrators fired [the rockets] from the bushes on the pavement of Çetin Emeç Boulevard. We have found an unexploded rocket, a backpack and a piece of fabric belonging to the organization [of the suspects] at the point where they committed the attack,” Güler told reporters after examination of the scene.

“All our units have been activated to find the criminals. We are of the assumption that they have escaped to the Dikmen Valley,” he added.

Dikmen Valley is a highly sensitive area of Ankara where the Municipality has launched several urban renewal projects, which have caused frequent tensions between security forces and locals.

Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, who was in the middle of a live interview on private broadcaster CNN Türk when the incident occurred, confirmed that the rocket attack did not cause any casualties.

“Festivities like weddings are organized in this facilities building on weekends. It is a miracle that no one was killed,” Gökçek said.

Tensions were high in Ankara since the beginning of September due to the Municipality’s road construction project that is set to lead to the destruction of 3,000 trees in ODTÜ's campus.

Clashes also broke out at the Tuzluçayır neighborhood in the Mamak district during a protest against a controversial project to build an Alevi cemevi and a Sunni mosque next to each other.

Last March, another rocket attack targeted the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) national headquarters, with one rocket hitting a point between the eight and seventh floors, where the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is located.