NEWS

Ankara US embassy bomber passed through Greece, reports say

Reports in Turkey have suggested that the militant who blew himself up at the United States embassy in Ankara on Friday had crossed into the country from Greece.

The bomber, identified as 40-year-old leftist militant Ecevit Sanli, killed himself and a Turkish security in the attack.

On Saturday, outlawed leftist militant group Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, DHKP-C, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on a website linked to the group

Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said Sanli had fled Turkey after he was released from jail in 2001, but managed to return to the country ‘‘illegally,’’ using a fake ID.

Reports suggest that Sanli had gone to Germany, where he applied for asylum using false documents, before returning to Turkey via Greece.

Hurriyet Daily News said that Sanli’s “illegal entrance through the Greek islands, alongside those who may have helped him, is also currently being investigated”.

It is not clear when the bomber is alleged to have passed through Greece.

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