Man detained after attempted bomb attack on Turkey PM’s office

A man carrying an automatic weapon was detained near the Turkish prime minister’s office in Istanbul on Thursday after he threw a homemade bomb at police, local media reported.

The bomb failed to explode and the man, aged around 30, was seized by security forces at the Dolmabahce Palace in Turkey’s largest city, media added.

Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altinok told the state-run Anadolu Agency that officers destroyed two unexploded grenades. The man was also armed with a small weapon and an assault rifle.

He was arrested after the incident in front of the offices at the Dolmabahce Palace in downtown Istanbul. The Ottoman palace was once the residence of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Police did not say if Erdogan was present at the time. It was not immediately clear if Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in the palace at the time, although both he and his predecessor, current President Erdogan, have used the office there regularly.

Altinok said the man is suspected to be a member of a terrorist organization. He said: “The individual’s identity and affiliation is obvious to us. He has spent time in prison,” Dogan News Agency reported.

Kurdish insurgents, nationalist, Islamist and left wing groups have targeted security forces in Turkey in the past.