ISIS suicide terror attack plotted on the Iranian embassy in Ankara

An individual who claimed to have links to the Islamic State extremist group threatened to attack the Iranian Embassy in Ankara, Tehran’s envoy in Turkey said on October 15.

“The suicide attack against the embassy was only a threat,” Ambassador Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard said. “Nothing significant has happened and things are under control.”

“The threat was made by someone who introduced himself as linked to Daesh,” Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Fard as saying.

Turkish media said Fard had been evacuated from the embassy, but the ambassador and Tehran denied that.

“Such a claim is a sheer lie. The personnel at our embassy are present at their workplace in full health and security,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.

DHA news agency said Iran’s mission in the Turkish capital had been given an intelligence warning about a possible suicide bomb attack.

The road by the embassy was shut off and police could be seen searching cars in the area.

Fard said Turkish police “intensified security measures” around Tehran’s mission in Ankara in response to the threat.

In 2015 and 2016, Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks that were blamed on both IS and Kurdish militants.

The last attack blamed on IS was in January 2017, when a gunman killed 39 people at an elite Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations.

Since then, Turkish police have conducted regular raids across the country against suspected IS militants.

Source: Rferl