Citing Turkish government officials, media reports say armed assailants launched a deadly “terror” attack on Turkiye’s state-run aerospace company near the capital Ankara on Wednesday.
CNN, citing Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, reports that at least five people were killed and 22 others injured in the “terrorist attack” on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) headquarters in the outskirts of Ankara. Two attackers – a man and a woman – were reportedly killed.
According to Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılma, among the dead are four TUSAS employees and the taxi driver who drove the assailants to the facility.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. But when asked by journalists for a response, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler suggested the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) could be behind it. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the European Union, and the United States.
CNN reports that without elaborating on the attackers’ identities, Guler told reporters “we [Turkey] punish the dishonorable PKK members as they deserve over and over again, but they never seem to learn.”
The interior minister reportedly later said that while the process to identify the attackers is ongoing, an initial assessment suggests the PKK was behind the attack.
The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkiye’s Nationalist Movement Party brought up Kurdish relations in Parliament, where he suggested offering to release the PKK’s jailed leader if he disbanded the organization, Reuters reported.
Later on Wednesday, several Kurdish areas in Syria and Iraq were struck by Turkiye.
Al Jazeera reports that some 15,000 people work at the TUSAS campus in Kahramankazan.
Turkish politicians and world leaders have condemned the attack, with Putin offering Erdogan his “condolences in connection with the terror attack” at the start of their meeting in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit of major emerging market nations that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Anadolu Agency says the US also condemned the deadly terror attack, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying "the United States stands with our Ally Turkiye and strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also condemned the attack. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “strongly condemned” terrorism in all forms in a post on X following the attack. Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Austria and other countries also condemned the attack.
