Russian investigators head to Turkey to probe ambassador assassination

Russia has sent a team of 18 officials from the Russian Investigative Committee, foreign ministry and other departments to Turkey to investigate the assassination of ambassador Andrey Karlov in Ankara, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"The group will operate in Turkey as part of an investigation of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov. This agreement has been reached during an earlier telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The Russian ambassador was shot by a Turkish policeman at an exhibition in Ankara in an apparent act of revenge for Russia's bombing of Aleppo.

Dramatic footage showed the very moment the gunman - dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and tie - shot at Karlov, who was at the opening of a Russian photography exhibition at an arts centre in Ankara.

Doctors confirmed the envoy's death 40 minutes after he was hospitalised. 

Both Russia and Turkey have branded the brazen attack as an "act of terror."

"We are saddened by the loss of this valuable Ambassador, whom we have been able to work closely with in Moscow just last week," Turkish Prime Minister Benali Yildirim said on Monday.

"Every effort is being made to bring the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist attack and the dark forces behind them into the open and deliver them to justice."

President Erdogan also expressed solidarity with Russia, ahead of talks between Moscow, Tehran and Ankara that are still scheduled to go ahead despite the assassination.