Turkey detains 18 people over Izmir attack, sees PKK responsible – minister

Police forensic experts examine the scene after the explosion outside a courthouse in Izmir

Turkish police detained 18 people in connection with Thursday’s gun and bomb attack which killed two people in the city of Izmir and Ankara has no doubt Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were responsible, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday.

The car bombing and gunfire outside the main courthouse in Turkey’s third largest city, located on its western Aegean coast, highlighted the country’s deteriorating security after a gunman killed 39 people in a New Year’s Day mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub.