A car bombing blamed on Kurdish militants rocked in the Aegean city of İzmir on Thursday, killing at least two people and triggering a deadly shootout. A police worker and a court employee, were killed, ten people were wounded in a car bomb explosion.
The attack occurred near a courthouse in İzmir's Bayraklı district, close to an entrance used by judges, prosecutors and other employees.
The attackers opened fire at police who stopped them at a checkpoint before detonating their explosives-laden vehicle.
According to the state-run Anadolu agency police shot dead two attackers after the blast and were seeking a third assailant.
Police detonated a second vehicle found near the scene of the incident.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said a much larger attack was apparently being planned, based on the weapons found at the scene of a car bombing.
"Based on the preparation, the weapons, bombs and ammunition seized, it is understood that a big atrocity was being planned," Kaynak told reporters in comments broadcast live.
The bombing comes less than a week after a gunman shot dead 39 people at a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Day in an attack claimed by Islamic State. The gunman is still at large.
AKP government has introduced temporary ban on the coverage of the blast in the media.
