Blast hits near police headquarters in Turkey

Police security was also stepped up across Turkey on Sunday as Turkish leftist and labour activists prepare to celebrate May Day, an event that often ends in clashes with security forces.

Turkey has suffered attacks recently both by Kurdish militants and members of Islamic State, raising concern at home and among North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies about the increasing spillover of conflict from neighbouring Syria. The group is believed to have carried out the attack, according to the BBC.

Sources said two vehicles were involved in the Gaziantep attack.

A Turkish flag was hung on the side of the police headquarters building.

The violence has severely dented demand for tourism to Turkey, the world's sixth-most popular holiday destination.

Footage from the scene showed pieces of a wrecked vehicle near the gates of the station.

The private Dogan news agency said those injured in Sunday's explosion at the entrance of the police station include at least six policemen. One officer died at the scene and a second later in hospital, a security source said.

Turkey is facing security threats on several fronts.

Ala said that the bomber was a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

And last month, ISIS claimed responsibility for shooting a Syrian religious leader and TV personality in Gaziantep, which is near the border with Syria.

According to the envoy, new smuggling hubs are popping up on the Turkish-Syrian border, with the "bulky goods" being delivered by the Turkish transport companies, which Churkin names.

Eighteen people, including Syrian refugees, have been killed in Kilis by IS rocket attacks since January, prompting anxiety and anger on the part of local residents. Police have raided the home of a suspected Islamic State militant and detained his father for DNA tests and questioning.

Turkey has been hit by a series of suicide bombings in Ankara, Istanbul and Bursa over the past year, with responsibility linked either to Kurdish militants or IS.

The Kurdish militant group TAK, an offshoot of PKK, on Sunday claimed a suicide bombing last week in Turkey's fourth-largest city of Bursa that wounded eight people.

Islamic State said it had attacked a gathering of special forces in Samawa, 230 km (140 miles) south of the capital, with one auto bomb and then blew up the second when security forces responded to the site.

Source: Blast hits near police headquarters in Turkey