Teenager arrested after two Turkish police officers killed in gun attack

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ANKARA (Reuters) – A 16-year-old has been arrested over the killing of two officers in a gun attack on a police station in the western Turkish city of Izmir on Monday, the interior minister said.

Izmir has been hit by militant attacks in the past including a car bombing that killed two people in 2017, but officials gave no indication over the possible motive for Monday’s attack in the city’s Balcova district, which also wounded two officers.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, in a post on X, identified the teenager arrested over the attack only as E.B., adding that one of the wounded officers had been seriously injured. The other suffered lighter injuries, he said.

Turkish broadcasters released CCTV footage showing an attacker wearing a black balaclava firing a rifle at the police station from across the street.

Subsequent footage aired by state broadcaster TRT showed the assailant shooting along a road before collapsing with a leg injury and repeatedly shouting “Allahu akbar”, or “God is greatest”, as police closed in to make the arrest.

Turkey has been the scene of attacks by Kurdish militants, Islamist groups and far-left organisations over the years, with security forces and state institutions often among the targets.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Daren Butler and Helen Popper)