US President Barack Obama looks out from his car in Istanbul -- where a man who plotted to kill him was arrested earlier by Turkish security forces.
Turkish security forces have arrested a man of Syrian origins who planned to assassinate US President Barack Obama during his visit to Turkey.The man, who sought to disguise himself as a journalist for the Al Jazeera news channel, managed to obtain press accreditation and allegedly planned to stab the US president with a knife, reported Saudi daily al Watan.
The man has reportedly confessed to his intention after his arrest, adding that he had been aided by three other accomplices.
Al Jazeera's Ankara bureau chief Yussef al-Sharif told al Watan that the network knew nothing about the man.
"We learned that the suspect claimed to be working for our bureau.If that has been the case then he most certainly forged our ID card," al-Sharif said.
President Obama, who is on his first overseas trip since taking office, was in Strasbourg, France on Friday for a NATO summit and arrived in Turkey on Sunday to attend the Alliance of Civilizations Summit in Istanbul.One US official familiar with the case suggested that the assassination plot is getting serious attention as there has been a heavy international focus on President Obama's first overseas trip.
White House officials declined to comment on the matter and cited a policy of not talking about security issues and threats surrounding the president.
Meanwhile US Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan explained briefly that "We work closely with the host country whenever there is an arrest, which we are doing in this matter".
The assassination plot is not the first attempt on President Obama's life.
Earlier in August, a group confessed after their arrest that they were "going to shoot
Obama" -who was then in Denver, Colorado for the Democratic National Convention, "from a high vantage point using a rifle sighted at 750 yards".Later in October, two white supremacists plotted to end their "national killing spree" by driving toward Obama and "shooting at him from the windows".
President Obama has been under Secret Service protection for nearly two years after receiving credible death threats.
Courtesy: Press TV
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