A CAR BOMB has exploded outside a courthouse in the western Turkish city of Izmir, killing a policeman, a court staff member and wounding at least ten people.
Several ambulances were rushed to the scene after the blast outside the prosecutors and judges’ entrance to the court in the usually peaceful city on the Aegean Sea, the channel said.
Police then clashed with “terrorists” during which two of them were killed and one escaped, according to state-run Anatolia news agency. Governor Ayyildiz said that the terrorists had eight hand grenades, and another car was blown up.
The mayor of the local Bayrakli municipality, Hassan Karabag, told NTV television that at least ten people were wounded, one of them seriously.
The wounded were taken to hospital as police secured the scene.
The blast came after a gunman stormed an Istanbul nightclub killing 39 people during New Year celebrations on Sunday.
In connection with that attack, authorities had on Tuesday detained 20 adults – along with 20 of their children – from three families in Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city.
As is customary after such attacks in Turkey, the authorities slapped a broadcast ban on images from the incident, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
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