A “mentally unstable” attacker armed with a knife tried to enter the Israeli embassy in Turkey on Wednesday but was shot and slightly wounded before he reached the building, Israel’s foreign ministry and Ankara governor’s office said.
“A man approached the embassy with a knife and was shot by a local guard. Everyone on our side is safe,” foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.
“The assailant was wounded in the leg. We don’t know if he was attacking police officers or the embassy itself.”
He added that the assailant reached the “outer perimeter” of the mission, but said the incident was still being investigated.
Nahshon emphasized that at this stage details were hazy and there still “isn’t a clear picture” of what happened.
Ankara governor’s office said the assailant was chanting slogans before the attack.
It also said the suspect appeared to be “mentally unstable” and so far no links were found that he belonged to any organization.
Police blocked roads leading to the heavily protected embassy building. Turkish media reports said staff at the embassy were moved to a shelter.
The media reported two people tried to enter the tightly guarded embassy.
The Turkish parliament in August approved a deal to normalize relations with Israel after a six-year rift sparked by a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left 10 Turkish nationals dead.
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