US Marines In Boxers Rush To Embassy Roof In Turkey After Suicide Bombing
At least two people are dead and others are injured after a suicide bomber exploded while going through an X-ray machine at a side entrance of the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
According to Turkish interior minister Muammer Guler, the attacker was believed to be in his thirties and a member of a Marxist-Leninist militant group called the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the bomb used was made from plastic explosives.
The checkpoint that the attacker passed through seems to be the most vulnerable part of the complex. Trees create distance for the main building of the embassy, but that side entrance is exposed to a street — making it susceptible to a bomb attack.
The bombing killed a member of the embassy's Turkish staff and the bomber. There was no damage inside the embassy.
Turkish reporter Musa Kesler tweeted this picture from Turkish news site A HABER, of American Marines in boxer shorts on guard on top of the embassy's roof.
The Military Times reports that none of the Marine security guards posted at the facility were hurt in the attack.
There are U.S. personnel placed on rooftops around the perimeter, and these men may be in boxers since Marines work in shifts and were told get up there ASAP to stand guard for potential future attacks.
The first level of embassy security — the outside — is usually covered by the host nation while the inside is covered by Marines and diplomatic security from the state department.
Here's the full video from A HABER.
No party claimed responsibility for the attack, but Kurdish rebels and Islamic militants are active in Turkey while the country has also been deeply affected by the brutal civil war in neighboring Syria.
The State Department has advised American citizens to not visit the Consulates in Istanbul, Adana or the Embassy in Ankara "until further notice."
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