Izmir suspects arrested

izmir - The Turkish police have eighteen people arrested in connection with the bomb blast Thursday in the city of Izmir. In a firefight after the explosion of a car bomb in a parking lot at the courthouse in Izmir two suspected terrorists were slain.

The Turkish government is convinced that the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK was behind the attack, said Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag Friday.

Izmir, in western Turkey on the Aegean Sea, is the third largest city in the country after Istanbul and the capital Ankara. Istanbul fell in an attack on a nightclub in the New Year night 39 deaths. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.