APThe Turkish government says its forces attacked areas Wednesday night in Iraq and Syria linked to the Kurdish PKK group, after it blamed it for an attack near Ankara that killed at least five people.
Separate videos of the attack early Wednesday showed at least two people firing guns near the entrance of the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), located 40 kilometers outside the capital.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which 22 people were injured.
“A total of 32 terrorist targets were successfully destroyed” in the revenge attack, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack on TAI “bad” on X’s post.
The Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, said that the two attackers, a woman and a man, were “neutral”, adding that the attack may have involved the PKK.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is banned as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the US and the UK, and has been fighting the Turkish regime since the 1980s for greater rights for the country’s key Kurdish minority.
Reuters news agency reports, citing Turkish intelligence officials, that the targets of the airstrikes include military facilities, ammunition depots and energy infrastructure.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Thursday morning that Turkey had launched a “new wave” of attacks, including on “public gatherings”, killing 12 people.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said earlier that “all kinds of security measures have been taken to prevent harm to innocent people, friendly objects, historical and cultural assets and the environment”.
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said four of the victims of the attack near Ankara were TAI employees, while the fifth was a taxi driver.
The victims were named by the Turkish state news agency as Cengiz Coskun, a quality control officer, Zahide Guclu, a mechanical engineer, security guard Atakan Sahin Erdogan, another worker named Huseyin Canbaz and Murat Arslan, a taxi driver.
Local media reported earlier that the attackers killed a taxi driver before taking his car to attack.
The explosion occurred during a shift change, forcing workers to be directed to shelters, they said.
Yerlikaya also confirmed that seven special forces members were among the 22 wounded in the attack.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked” by the attack in Ankara.
In a post to X, he wrote: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with Turkey as a Nato ally and close friend.”
President Erdogan – who is in Russia for the BRICS summit – condemned what he called a “heinous terrorist attack” during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in remarks broadcast live on television.
He later sent a long statement to X, saying that the security forces had taken immediate action to reduce the threat, and that “no terrorist organization, no evil target targeting our security will be able to achieve their goals”.
The Turkish authorities have decided to close the media with details of the attack, and users in large areas of the country have reported that they cannot use social networks such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.
The president of Turkey’s Radio and TV Supreme Council, Ebubekir Sahin, warned that all images related to the incident should be removed from social media, and urged users not to share images that “will serve the purpose of terrorism”.
TAI is a key player in the Turkish aerospace industry, designing, developing and manufacturing various aircraft for commercial and military use.
It is the company designated by the Nato member to be the licensed manufacturer of the US-designed F-16 fighter jets. TAI is also involved in making old aircraft available for use by the Turkish military.
The company’s two main owners are the Turkish Army and the military arm of the Turkish government charged with developing its defense capabilities and managing military procurement.
The explosion happened as a major trade fair for the defense and aerospace industries was underway in Istanbul this week.