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Russian ambassador to Turkey shot dead during Ankara exhibition

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Ankara: The Russian ambassador to Turkey has been shot in the back and killed, as he gave a speech at an Ankara art gallery on Monday, by an off-duty police officer who shouted "Don't forget Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of envoy Andrei Karlov, calling it a "terrorist act".

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Gunman kills Russian ambassador to Turkey

Andrei Karlov was giving a speech at a photo exhibition in Ankara when the gunman opened fire on Monday.

The attacker was smartly dressed in black suit and tie and was photographed standing, alone, behind the ambassador as he made a speech at the art exhibition.

"He took out his gun and shot the ambassador from behind. We saw him lying on the floor and then we ran out," a witness, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. People took refuge in adjoining rooms as the shooting continued.

Video footage and photographs showed the ambassador among four people lying on the floor following the attack. He shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later, officials said.

The footage showed the attacker shouting: "Don't forget Aleppo, don't forget Syria!" and "Allahu Akbar [God is Greatest]" as screams rang out. He paced about and shouted as he held the gun in one hand and waved the other hand in the air.

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"We die in Aleppo, you die here," the man yelled before firing several shots into the air. "You will not taste security until our towns are secure. Do not forget about Syria and Aleppo. Whoever is part of it will get their punishment."

A Reuters cameraman at the scene said gunfire rang out for some time after the attack. The gunman was killed by security forces.

Attacker a Turkish police officer

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the gunman was a police officer who worked for the Ankara riot police. 

Turkish police have detained his sister and mother, according to broadcaster CNN Turk. It said the two women were detained in the south-western Turkish province of Aydin following the shooting on Monday.

The Ankara mayor said on Twitter the gunman as a 22-year-old police officer. Two security sources told Reuters he was not on duty at the time.

Soylu also said that three other people were wounded in the attack, none seriously, and that one had been released already.

"We regard this as a terrorist act," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. "Terrorism will not win and we will fight against it decisively."

It was not clear whether the gunman was a lone operator, driven perhaps by popular discontent over Russian action in Syria or affiliated to a group like Islamic State.

Turkey has been hit by a series of attacks in recent years blamed on groups including the Islamic State and Kurdish separatists, who have battled the government for decades for greater autonomy in Turkey's southeastern regions. 

Russia and Turkey's troubled relationship

The attack appeared to represent the latest violent spillover of the Syrian conflict into neighbouring Turkey. Suicide bombings linked to the fighting in Syria have become almost commonplace in Turkey, often causing mass casualties, but this was the first deadly attack on a senior diplomat that was seemingly motivated by the brutal and multisided war next door.

Russia and Turkey, which have both intervened militarily in Syria, are on opposite sides of the conflict. Russian firepower has helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cling to power and recapture opposition-held east Aleppo; Turkey has allied itself with some of the rebels seeking to topple him. It has long sought Assad's ouster and has been repairing ties with Moscow after shooting down a Russian warplane over Syria last year.

The shooting incident raises concerns about the Turkish police force currently being purged after a failed July coup.

Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were quick to draw a connection to July's attempted coup against Erdogan, which was followed by a purge of tens of thousands of suspected political opponents.

The mayor of Ankara, Ibrahim Melih Gokcek, who is from Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, claimed the shooter was a follower of Fethullah Gulen, an elderly cleric living in self-exile in the United States and blamed by Turkey for masterminding the coup attempt.

Erdogan said on Monday he had agreed in a telephone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin that their cooperation and solidarity in fighting terrorism should be even stronger after the killing of the Russian ambassador.

Erdogan called the killing a clear provocation aimed at damaging relations between Turkey and Russia at a time of normalisation.

The assassination came on the heels of near-daily protests outside the Russian Embassy in Ankara as well as the consulate in Istanbul. Thousands of Turks and Syrians have been holding rallies at the Russian diplomatic outposts, along with the Iranian Consulate and Embassy, over the two governments' war roles in support of Assad. They have escalated amid reports of heavy civilian casualties in Aleppo during the recapture of the city's eastern sector from the rebels.

Scores of Turkish police were deployed at a protest last week at the Russian consulate on Istanbul's main central avenue that drew thousands. Protesters chanted "Putin, murderer! Russia, murderer! You will get your punishment!"

Adding to the tension, there were reports of gunshots fired near the US. Embassy in Ankara, and the State Department warned Americans to avoid the area.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was due to meet with his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Russia on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Syria. Officials said the meeting would still go on, despite the attack.

Soylu said it would not allow the attack to cast a shadow over Ankara's relations with Moscow.

"The attack comes at a bad time: Moscow and Ankara have only recently restored diplomatic ties after Turkey downed a Russian aircraft in November 2015," the Stratfor think-tank said.

"Though the attack will strain relations between the two countries, it is not likely to rupture them altogether."

The US State Department, involved in diplomatic contacts with Russia in an attempt to resolve a refugee crisis unfolding around the city of Aleppo, condemned the attack.

Turkey has been hit by a series of attacks in recent years blamed on groups including the Islamic State and Kurdish separatists, who have battled the government for decades for greater autonomy in Turkey's southeastern regions.

The involvement of a police officer in Monday's attack could also raise questions for Erdogan about a force denuded now of a number of senior and rank-and-file officers.

World leaders outraged

Ambassador Karlov started his diplomatic career during the Soviet era in 1976 and had previously served at Russian embassies in Seoul and Pyongyang, North Korea. He took the post in Ankara in July 2013, according to the embassy's website.

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power described the attack as "savage."

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also tweeted his shock.

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the killing and offered help with the investigation.

"We stand ready to offer assistance to Russia and Turkey as they investigate this despicable attack, which was also an assault on the right of all diplomats to safely and securely advance and represent their nations around the world," Kerry said in a statement.

Reuters, Tribune, AP