ANKARA – The suicide bomber who struck the US Embassy in Ankara spent several years in prison on terrorism charges but was released on probation after being diagnosed with a hunger strike-related brain disorder, officials said Saturday. The bomber, identified as 40-year-old leftist militant Ecevit Sanli, killed himself and a Turkish security guard Friday, in what US officials said was a terrorist attack. Sanli was armed with enough TNT to blow up a two-story building and also detonated a hand grenade, officials said. Sanli had fled Turkey after he was released from jail in 2001, but managed to come back to the country “illegally,” using a fake ID, Interior Muammer Guler said. It was not clear how long before the attack he returned to Turkey. Sanli had been a member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, which has claimed responsibility for assassinations and bombings since the 1970s but has been relatively quiet in recent years. Compared to Al-Qaeda, it has not been seen as a strong terrorist threat. Sanli's motives were still unclear. But some Turkish government officials have linked the attack to the arrest last month of dozens of suspected members of the group in a nationwide sweep. Speculation has also abounded that the bombing was related to the perceived support of the US for Turkey's harsh criticism of the regime in Syria, whose brutal civil war has forced tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to seek shelter in Turkey. But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied that. Officials said Sanli was arrested in 1997 for alleged involvement in attacks on Istanbul's police headquarters and a military guesthouse and jailed on charges of membership in the group. — AP
