ANKARA, Oct 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s envoy to Turkey was evacuated from
the embassy in Ankara on Monday after warnings of a possible bomb threat,
local media reported.
But Tehran flatly denied the report as a complete fabrication.
“Such a claim is a sheer lie, and the personnel at our embassy are present
at their workplace in full health and security,” the foreign ministry said in
a statement on its website.
Earlier on Monday, DHA news agency said Iran’s mission in the Turkish
capital had been given an intelligence warning about a possible suicide bomb
attack, prompting the evacuation of Ambassador Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian
Fard.
The road by the embassy was shut off and police could be seen searching
cars in the area, an AFP photographer said.
In 2015 and 2016, Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks which were
blamed on both Kurdish militants and the Islamic State jihadist group.
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 jihadists.
They have also regularly targeted members of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by
Ankara and its Western allies.