IZMIR, Turkey (AP) — Suspected Kurdish militants on Thursday opened fire
at police who stopped them at a checkpoint in the western city of Izmir before
detonating their
explosives-laden vehicle, the province's governor said. A
policeman and a courthouse employee were killed in the attack while two
assailants were shot dead.
Gov. Erol Ayyildiz said preliminary indications pointed to the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK, which has carried out a string of attacks in the past
year and a half, mainly targeting Turkey's security forces. Islamic State
militants have also carried several deadly attacks in the country.
"The information so far suggests it is the PKK. Such a conclusion
was reached after we assessed the attack and ID'd the people," Ayyildiz
said.
The governor did not refer to earlier reports that a third attacker was
on the run.
Ayyildiz said the attackers were carrying two automatic rifles, rocket
launchers and eight hand grenades.
The attack occurred near a courthouse in Izmir's Bayrakli district, close
to an entrance used by judges, prosecutors and other employees. Police
detonated a second vehicle found near the scene of the incident.
Ayyildiz said "six or seven" people were also wounded in the
attack, adding that police vigilance had foiled a possible more serious attack.
"When you look at the preparations they had made, the weapons that
were seized, the bombs and the ammunition, it is clear that a big massacre was
planned," said Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak. "Praise God, they
were not successful."
Earlier, Turkey's state-run news agency said police were looking for a
third suspect who was on the run, described as wearing a black coat and a white
beret.
The incident follows a string of attacks, carried out by IS or Kurdish
militants, which have left Turkey on edge.
Thirty-nine people were killed in a nightclub attack in Istanbul during
New Year's celebrations. The IS group claimed that attack which it said was a
reprisal for Turkey's military operations in Syria. On Wednesday, police had
detained some 20 people in Izmir believed to have links to the nightclub
attacker who is still at large.
Kaynak suggested the attacks aimed to deter Turkey from its fight against
the PKK in Iraq — where it regularly carries out air raids — as well as its
military incursion in northern Syria where it is fighting the IS and taking
steps to curb territorial advances of the Syrian Kurdish forces.
"Turkey will remain effective in the region where it is
present," Kaynak said. "They will never prevent us from being present
in Syria and in Iraq, which are like germ-infested nests."
As with other attacks, the prime minister's office imposed a news
blackout restricting coverage of the attack, citing public order and national
security concerns.
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Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Cinar Kiper in
Istanbul contributed to this report.
AP
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