Blast hits police station in Turkey

A bomb-laden car exploded at the entrance of Gaziantep's police headquarters on Sunday morning, police sources said.

The powerful blast was felt across the city and caused windows in nearby buildings to shatter.

Ali Yerlikaya, governor of Gaziantep province, told CNN Turk that 19 police officers were among those injured in the attack. One officer died at the scene and second died later in hospital.

Police sealed off the area while forensics experts collected debris strewn across the street. There were unconfirmed reports that gunfire was heard at the time of the explosion and that a second car was seen driving from the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack. It follows a number of recent deadly bombings in Turkey carried out by both Kurdish militants and extremists from the "Islamic State" group.

Gaziantep is near Turkey's border with Syria, and is a major hub for Syrians who have fled the war in their country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in the city last week to visit a camp for refugees.

Also on Sunday, three Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in a ground attack by Kurdish militants in the southeastern border town of Nusaybin. The conflict between Turkish forces and the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) picked up again last July after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire.

nm/jm (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)