The Russian ambassador to Ankara was seriously wounded in a gun attack at a art gallery in the Turkish capital on Monday and was taken to a hospital, NTV and other broadcasters reported.<br /><br />The Russian foreign ministry confirmed the attack mounted as Ambassador Andrei Karlov made a speech at the opening of a photographic exhibition. Hurriyet newspaper said Turkish special forces had surrounded the building. NTV said three other people were wounded.<br />A Reuters witness said that while gunfire rang out for some time after the attack, it had now stopped.<br />Russia and Turkey have been involved in conflict in Syria across the border from where over 2 million Syrian refugees have settled. Turkey has been a staunch opponent of President Bashar al-Assad while Russia has deployed troops and its air force in support of the Syrian leader.<br /><br />It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. Islamic State militants have been active in Turkey and carried out several bomb attacks on Turkish targets<br /><br />A photograph posted on twitter showed a man in a black suit holding a pistol, standing close to a podium in the gallery, its walls hung with pictures. Four people including what appeared to be the ambassador lay on the floor.<br /><br />The Turkish lira and Russian rouble fell to session lows against the dollar on Monday following the report.<br /><br />The lira was last down about 0.6 percent at 3.526 lira per dollar, while the rouble hit a session low of 62.045 rouble per dollar before retracing to 61.9305, according to Reuters data.<br /><br />iShares MSCI Turkey ETF and VanEck Vectors Russia ETF were trading lower in early morning trade Monday.
