ANKARA —
Turkish police fired into the air and detained a man carrying a device designed to look like a bomb after he tried to breach a security cordon near Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's offices on Thursday.
The man, described by media reports as in his early 50s, had called police five minutes beforehand to tip them off and is thought to have psychological problems, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters.
Turkish media published a photograph of what looked like a white corset and a slab of putty wrapped in cling film, attached by wire to a small back device, seized from the man.
“There is no suicide bomber. The suspect tipped off police about himself. He is thought to have psychological problems,” Guler said.
“A device made to look like a bomb was found on the suspect. Police fired into the air during the incident. Nobody was shot,” he added, denying initial media reports that the man had been shot and wounded by police.
Television footage showed police sealing off the streets in the area near the building in the center of the capital Ankara.
An official in Erdogan's office said earlier the suspect had refused to show his identity card at a checkpoint in the street. Erdogan was not in the building at the time, the official added.
Separatist Kurdish militants, far-left groups and radical Islamists have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
The man, described by media reports as in his early 50s, had called police five minutes beforehand to tip them off and is thought to have psychological problems, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters.
Turkish media published a photograph of what looked like a white corset and a slab of putty wrapped in cling film, attached by wire to a small back device, seized from the man.
“There is no suicide bomber. The suspect tipped off police about himself. He is thought to have psychological problems,” Guler said.
“A device made to look like a bomb was found on the suspect. Police fired into the air during the incident. Nobody was shot,” he added, denying initial media reports that the man had been shot and wounded by police.
Television footage showed police sealing off the streets in the area near the building in the center of the capital Ankara.
An official in Erdogan's office said earlier the suspect had refused to show his identity card at a checkpoint in the street. Erdogan was not in the building at the time, the official added.
Separatist Kurdish militants, far-left groups and radical Islamists have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
