Car bomb explodes in Turkey’s Izmir

16.23

Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said a much larger attack was apparently being planned, based on the weapons found at the scene in Izmir, which is located on the Aegean coast. The local governor said the arms included Kalashnikov rifles, hand grenades and ammunition for rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

“Based on the preparation, the weapons, the bombs and ammunition seized, it is understood that a big atrocity was being planned,” Kaynak told reporters.

“Turkey will be instrumental in its region. These [attacks] will never prevent us from being present in areas like Iraq and Syria, which produce terrorists like viruses,” Kaynak said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Izmir.

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15:15

Initial findings suggest the Kurdish PKK militant group was behind the car bombing outside a courthouse in Izmir earlier today, provincial governor Erol Ayyildiz said.

“A clash erupted after our police officers wanted to stop a vehicle at a police checkpoint in front of Bayrakli courthouse. In this clash, terrorists detonated the car bomb while trying to escape,” Ayyildiz told reporters in comments broadcast live.

A police officer and a courthouse employee were killed in the attack, he said. He also confirmed that police had shot dead two of the attackers, and said they were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and grenades.

The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals. Police took security measures in the area.

Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council imposed a temporary ban on live broadcasting from the scene.

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14.00

An explosion near a courthouse in Turkey’s Aegean coastal city of Izmir was caused by a car bomb, the Secretary-General of the city’s municipality Bugra Gokce told broadcaster CNN Turk.

Police shot dead two attackers after the blast and were seeking a third assailant, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

Hospital sources in the city told Reuters ten people had been brought in wounded following the explosion.

#Breaking: CCTV footage shows moment of bomb blast outside courthouse in Izmir, #Turkey. pic.twitter.com/D5t3XGd7uK

— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) January 5, 2017