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Russian Ambassador shot dead
The Turkish policeman who murdered the Russian ambassador to Ankara used his police ID to bypass metal detectors at the entrance to gallery where the killing took place, it has been reported.
Melvut Mert Altintas, 22, was challenged by security guards at Ankara's Contemporary Arts Centre when he refused topass through the metal detector but was waved through after he produced his police identity card, Hurriyet reported on Tuesday.
Andrei Karlov was killed as he gave a speech at the opening of an exhibition sponsored by the Russian embassy.
The gallery is frequently used by embassies and has X-ray machines, security cameras and five security staff on duty.
The Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov speaks at a gallery in Ankara before the attack. Photo / AP
Altintas, who served on an elite riot squad unit in the Turkish capital, shouted "Allahu akbar" and "don't forget Aleppo" as he shot Karlov in the back on Monday night.
The policeman, who has served on the force for two and a half years, applied for leave before the killing and spent the night ahead of the murder in a hotel to prepare for the attack, Turkish press reported.
The new details emerged as police detained seven people in overnight raids, including Altintas's parents, sister and three other relatives from his home town in Aydir province.
In Ankara, police arrested the policeman's flatmate.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, on Tuesday thanked Turkish authorities for their "instantaneous response" to the killing on Tuesday and said neither country should not allow "any concessions to terrorists."
"This tragedy forces all of us to fight more decisively against terrorism," Lavrov told Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu as they began a bilateral meeting in Moscow.
"For this reason, I very much hope that our talks and the upcoming three-way meeting with our Iranian colleague will allow us to reach agreements, which will through concrete actions advance the settlement in Syria," Lavrov said.
The foreign and defence ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran are due to meet in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon for a summit on the evacuation of Aleppo and the future of Syria.
A child is held after the the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was shot at and killed. Photo / AP
Russia and Iran both back Bashar al-Assad's government and were deeply involved in the months-long assault on rebel held eastern Aleppo that ended in victory last week.
Turkey has backed anti-Assad rebels throughout the war, but did not intervene in the battle for Aleppo after Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, agreed to bury their differences in August.
Putin and Recep Tayypi Erdogan, the president of Turkey, both described Karlov's murder as an attempt to sabotage a fragile strategic alliance between their countries.
Eighteen officials from Russia's foreign ministry, Investigative Committee, and intelligence agencies landed in Ankara early on Tuesday morning after Putin and Erdogan agreed on a joint investigation into the murder.
Russian and Turkish detectives have been detailed to discover whether Altintas was acting alone or was part of a wider conspiracy.
Turkish officials have suggested he may be linked to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused of orchestrating a failed military coup in July.
Experts said that was unlikely, however, saying it was more likely the gunman was acting in revenge for Russia's involvement in the war in Syria.
"I have no doubt that Altintas was targeting Russia and Russia alone," said Gareth Jenkins, an expert on the Gulenist movment. "It may be that Altintas had links with or was sympathetic to an organization. But, if so, it will be a radical Islamist one, not the Gulenists."
Earlier on Tuesday police detained a man who fired shots in front of the US embassy in Ankara, several hours after the Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed in an attack.
The man took out a pump action shotgun he hid in his coat and fired around eight shots in the air before the embassy's security guards intervened and apparently overpowered him.
No one was hurt in the incident.
All embassies in Ankara have stepped up security after the attack and the US embassy has closed for the day.
