4th LD: 4 die in car bombing in Turkey's Izmir
Xinhua, January 5, 2017 Adjust font size:
A car bomb exploded outside a courthouse on Thursday in Turkey's western city of Izmir, killing four including two attackers and one police, the governor said.
Izmir Governor Erol Ayyildiz told the state-run Anadolu Agency that a court employee, a female usher, lost her life as well in the bombing attack.
He put the number of the wounded at seven, three police plus four civilians.
The attack occurred near a police checkpoint of the courthouse, and an exchange of fire erupted between three militants and the police, with two militants killed later and the other on the run.
The governor said that two kalashnikovs, eight handmade bombs and eight rocket launchers were seized from the terrorists.
Preliminary reports indicate the Kurdistan Workers' Party outlawed by Ankara is behind the attack, said the governor.
The bombing attack came in the wake of a shooting attack early Sunday on an Istanbul nightclub that left 39 dead, 25 of them foreigners.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the nightclub carnage, but the gunman remains at large. Endit