A police officer and an officer of the court were martyred in a terrorist attack near the main courthouse in Turkey’s western coastal city of Izmir, the local governor said Thursday.
A police officer and a court official were killed, and a number of others injured in the attack, including three police officers, Izmir Governor Erol Ayyildiz said. He confirmed that the attackers detonated the car bomb and opened fire when police attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle at a checkpoint in front of the courthouse in the Aegean port city, Turkey’s third largest.
Fethi Sekin refused to let the car inside the cordon outside the Justice Palace building and then chased after the terrorists when they abandoned the vehicle, which blew up seconds later. He was killed in a shootout with the terrorists.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said:
‘Our heroic police officer martyred in this attack, Fethi Sekin, prevented a much bigger disaster happening, sacrificing his own life without a thought for it.’
According to Izmir’s governor, it’s likely that the PKK is behind the attack. He bases this conclusion on the IDs of the terrorists. As usual in Turkey these days, there are two options: ISIS or the PKK.The PKK is fighting for an independent homeland for the Kurdish people in the southeast of Turkey.
The dramatic moment terrorists shot at Mr. Sekin, 43, and another Turkish policeman in the street were caught on video.An officer can be seen sprinting away from a row of parked cars before collapsing to the ground after been shot during a gunfight in Izmir, on Turkey’s west coast.
