Turkish police has tightened anti-terror security measures to ensure the safety of the upcoming 23rd Universiade to be kicked off Thursday in Turkey's Aegean coastal city of Izmir after a recent series of bomb attacks in Istanbul and other tourist resorts.

"We will do whatever we can to safeguard the safety for Izmir, and especially for the Universiade sports event," said a police officer, who declined to disclose his name, in an interview with Xinhua outside the Athletes Village Tuesday.

According to the officer, a total of 777 police officers have been deployed to oversee the security of the Athletes Village and six gates equipped with the X-rays have been established with security personnel and security dogs.

And Special Security Units were also charged for the nine countries at "risk" in case of bomb attack, the official disclosed, but he refused to specify the names of the nine countries.

"Turkish police has launched a thorough check-up on explosives and dangerous goods and increased patrol frequency with the sports event impends," the officer said.

In addition, stress of security is also placed on preventing natural disasters and unexpected incidents, the officer added.

Kurdish militants, leftist and Islamic groups are active in Turkey and have carried out bombing attacks in the past. The most recent one occurred on July 30 when two soldiers were killed and one citizen was injured in a car explosion in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari.

The 23rd Universiade, to be held from August 11-21, has attracted around 9,300 young athletes from more than 170 countries and regions to Turkey.

Source: Xinhua