Turkey attacked: Officer and guard killed as 'atrocity' foiled in Izmir

A Turkish police officer and courthouse employee were killed on Thursday after militants detonated a car bomb outside a courthouse in the usually peaceful coastal city of Izmir.

The attack is being blamed on the Kurdish militant PKK group.

Slain policeman Fethi Sekin, a traffic officer who had been stationed outside Izmir's courthouse for many years, was hailed as a hero by local media for his part in stopping what officials said was planned to be a "big atrocity".

Sekin, who hailed from Elazig in the east of Turkey, reportedly shot dead one of the attackers, using up all his ammunition before being killed.
Sekin and other officers are being praised for foiling what could have been a far deadlier attack.

"Based on the preparation, the weapons, bombs and ammunition seized, it is understood that a big atrocity was being planned," official Veysi Kaynak told reporters in comments broadcast live after the incident.

Graphic images circulated on social media claimed to show an attacker after he was shot dead, still clutching a Kalashnikov rifle.

One of the attackers was found with eight hand grenades on his body, Izmir governor Erol Ayyildiz said.

The governor said armed clashes broke out when police tried to stop a suspect vehicle at a check point in front of the courthouse.

Gunshots were heard throughout the city during the exchange of fire.

The car bomb was detonated after the gun fight, the governor said, as the militants attempted to escape.

CCTV footage captured the moment when the car bomb exploded, killing Fethi Sekin and a courthouse guard, who has not been identified.

At least 10 people were also wounded by the blast, state media reported.

"Based on the evidence we have, everything points to the PKK," Ayyildiz was quoted as saying.

Two attackers were shot dead after the blast, a security source told Reuters, but a third fled the scene and is still at large. 

A second car bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion.

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.

Police detained 20 suspected Islamic State militants thought to be of Central Asian and North African origin in Izmir on Wednesday, in raids Turkish media said were linked to the Istanbul nightclub attack.

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 militants.