A total of 16 people have been injured in an explosion which tore through a security forces-owned minibus in a district of the western Turkish city of Izmir in the early hours of this morning.

Police officers and soldiers were among those hurt when a parked car exploded as a minibus carrying police officers passed by in the town of Kusadasi, 100km from Izmir city, CNN Turk has reported.

The blast shattered windows in the surrounding area, which was near a police housing complex in the Buca district of the Aegean port, which is Turkey's third-largest city.

It is a popular destination for British holiday makers, particularly yachties who use it as a jumping off point to explore Turkey's western coast.

Islamist militants, Kurdish and leftist guerrillas have often carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past. A suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in his car in Turkey's southern Mersin province on Tuesday, killing himself and injuring nine police officers.

The explosives used in that blast were the same as those used in a double bombing last month in Istanbul in which 17 people were killed according to reports in the Turkish media.

Officials have blamed those bombings on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas.

Times Recommends

• British ‘tortured and jailed Obama’s grandfather’
• BA in merger talks with Qantas
• Mumbai police were ill equipped for attacks