Turkish police kill suspected ISIS suicide bomber

Turkish police shot dead a suspected ISIS militant who was believed to be planning a suicide bomb attack in the capital Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Wednesday.

A counter terror squad had tracked the suspect to the ninth floor of a building on the outskirts of Ankara, where he was killed in a gunfight at around 3 am (0000 GMT) after opening fire in response to a police call to surrender.

Police found explosive materials at the scene and Governor Ercan Topaca told reporters there were suspicions that the suspect planned to target public ceremonies in the capital, Anadolu reported. It said the man was registered in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and was born in 1992.

Having received intelligence that militants were planning attacks in the capital, the Ankara governor’s office on Monday banned public meetings and marches until the end of November.

The ban, enforced under emergency rule imposed after an attempted coup in July, came as Turkey pursued a near two-month-old military operation in Syria in support of rebels to drive ISIS from its southern border.

ISIS and Kurdish militants have carried out attacks in the capital. This month two suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members, believed to be planning a car bomb attack, blew themselves up in a standoff with police in Ankara.