Two Killed in Car Bomb Attack in Izmir, Two Terrorists Shot Dead

A senior official says that two terrorists exploded a car bomb at a police checkpoint near a courthouse in the western city of Izmir, before escaping and shooting at police.

Izmir Gov. Erol Ayyildiz said Thursday one of the policemen and a court employee were killed in the attack, while the two terrorists were killed by police. He did not refer to earlier reports that a third terrorist was on the run.

Ayyildiz said preliminary signs indicated that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was behind the attack. He said police seized an automatic rifle, a rocket launcher and eight hand grenades.

Hospital sources said at least five people had been brought in wounded.

Ayyildiz said police at the checkpoint had foiled a possibly more serious attack at the courthouse.

The bombing comes less than a week after a terrorist shot dead 39 people at a popular venue in Istanbul in an attack claimed by the Islamic State terror group. Turkey faces multiple security threats. It has been hit by a series of bombings over the past 18 months, some of them blamed on Islamic State, others on Kurdish terrorists.