The Russian Ambassador to Turkey was shot in the back by an off-duty Turkish police officer. After shooting the Ambassador, the shooter yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Don’t forget Aleppo.”

The shooter was killed. Five members of the shooter’s family and his roommate have been detained by police. The US has closed 3 of its missions in Turkey. 

Looks like the jihadists are not enamored with the Eastern Orthodox Russians either. 

Turkish police detained six people over the killing of the Russian ambassador, state media said on Tuesday, widening a probe to relatives of the off-duty policeman who shouted “Don’t forget Aleppo!” as he gunned the envoy down.

Both countries cast Monday’s attack, which occurred at an art gallery in the capital Ankara, as an attempt to undermine a recent thawing of ties that have been strained by Syria’s civil war, where they back opposing sides.

The war, which has killed more than 300,000 people and created a power vacuum exploited by Islamic State, reached a potential turning point last week when Syrian forces ended rebel resistance in the northern city of Aleppo.

Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, supported that advance with air strikes.

Turkey identified the killer as 22-year-old Mevlut Mert Altintas, who had worked for the Ankara riot police for 2-1/2 years. Altintas, who also shouted slogans associated with Islamist militancy after shooting ambassador Andrey Karlov, was killed minutes later by members of Turkey’s special forces.

His mother, father, sister and two other relatives were held in the western province of Aydin, while his flatmate in Ankara was also detained, the state-run Anadolu agency said.

One senior Turkish security official said investigators were focusing on whether Altintas had links to the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for a failed July coup. Gulen has denied responsibility for the coup and Monday’s attack and has condemned both events.

The slogans that Altintas shouted, which were captured on video and circulated widely on social media, suggested he was aligned to a radical Islamist ideology, rather than that of Gulen, who preaches a message of interfaith dialogue.

“Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria. You will not be able to feel safe for as long as our districts are not safe. Only death can take me from here,” he shouted in Turkish.