Turkish justice ministry, ruling party headquarters attacked

Assailants hurled two hand grenades at Turkey’s Justice Ministry last night, slightly wounding one woman.In a separate attack within minutes apart, a rocket was fired on the headquarters of the country’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Turkish (Anadolu Agency AA) reported.Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said the wounded woman in the ministry attack was taken to a hospital and she was discharged soon after, and there were no casualties in the attack on the party headquarters which caused only material damage to the facade of the building between the 7th and 8th floors.Ergin said investigation were underway.Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler confirmed that assailants used a LAW weapon, an unguided anti-tank munition, in the attack on the AK Party headquarters in a joint press appearance with Huseyin Celik, AK Party deputy chairman and spokesperson.“The attack [on AK Party headquarters] is an attack on democracy,” Celik told reporters.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s double attacks which come at a time when Turkish intelligence officials held talks with Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the terrorist PKK organization, to disarm the group and end decades of conflict which killed more than 40,000 people.Turkish security forces have also recently targeted the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front, or DHKP/C, detaining more than two dozen suspected members of the group in a week.The left-wing terrorist group had claimed responsibility for a February 1 suicide bomb attack on the US Embassy in Turkey’s capital that killed a Turkish security guard and wounded a woman.