ERZURUM, Turkey
The 'terrorists' who killed two security officials in central Turkey on Thursday were Western nationals, the country’s Interior Minister Efkan Ala has claimed.
Ala told reporters that the specific nationalities would be disclosed after receiving confirmation from the countries concerned.
Three people, including a soldier and a police officer, were killed in a shoot-out in the central Turkish province of Nigde on Thursday.
"The terrorists opened fire from a taxi that they rented in the southern province of Hatay," the interior minister said.
Ala added that the security forces captured two of the three assailants and that both were foreign nationals from Western countries.
"A number of hand grenades, bullets and guns have been found in the bags left behind by them," he said,
The minister said search efforts were continuing to capture the remaining assailant.
Attackers opened fire when Turkish gendarmerie and police teams tried to stop their vehicle at a roadside checkpoint near the town of Ulukisla.
The gendarmerie and special operations teams immediately chased after the assailants who escaped in a truck that they had seized.
The Interior Ministry has said the third person killed in the attack was the driver of the truck.
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