Turkish jets strike Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria following attack on defence company

ANKARA, Turkiye -

Turkiye’s air force struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in an apparent retaliation for an attack at a key state-run defence company that killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others.

The defence ministry said more than 30 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive, without providing details on the locations that were hit. It said “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent harms to civilians.

The strike came hours after suspected Kurdish militants set off explosives and opened fire at the aerospace and defence company TUSAS. The two attackers — a man and a woman — also were killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Yerlikaya said the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was believed to be behind the attack at the defence company. Defence Minister Yasar Guler also pointed the finger at the PKK.

“We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses,” Guler said. “We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.”

There was no immediate statement from the PKK.

The Islamic State group and leftist extremists have also carried out past attacks in Turkiye.

"I condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Russia.

Putin offered condolences. A U.S. Embassy statement said Washington “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack."

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defence industry and space systems. Its UAVs have been instrumental in Turkiye gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants.

The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkiye’s far-right nationalist party that's allied with Erdogan raised the possibility that the PKK's imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization.

Abdullah Ocalan's group has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkiye in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkiye and its Western allies.

The country's pro-Kurdish political party, which also condemned the attack, noted that it had occurred at a time when the possibility of a dialogue to end the conflict had emerged.

Turkish media said the assailants arrived Wednesday at an entry to the TUSAS complex in a taxi. The assailants, carrying assault weapons, detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter.

One of the victims was identified as mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu, who had gone to the entrance to collect flowers sent by her husband, the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Emergency rescue teams and police officers work outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkiye, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (IHA via AP)

The taxi driver was also killed by the assailants and his body was found in the trunk of the vehicle, the agency reported.

Orhan Akdundar, a brother of one the TUSAS employees, was among relatives waiting outside the complex for news of their loved ones.

“I called my brother who was inside and said, ‘What happened?’ He said a bomb had exploded and said that gunshots continued for a very long time,” Akdundar said. “There was a huge commotion. The gendarmerie, special forces and other security forces were all here. There were lots of ambulances. Then the phones shut off and I wasn’t able to establish communication.”

An unidentified TUSAS employee shouted: “We will work harder and produce more in defiance of the traitors” as he and other colleagues were being evacuated from the premises, according to a video aired by HaberTurk.

Security camera images, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.

The interior minister said security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at around 3:30 p.m.

Multiple gunshots were heard after security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.

Authorities issued a temporary blackout on the coverage of the attack and went on to throttle access to social media websites.

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkiye's “success in the defence industry.”

The Iraqi embassy in Ankara issued a statement condemning the attack. It said the embassy “affirms Iraq’s firm position in rejecting terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations, and expresses the solidarity of Iraq’s government and people, with the government and people of the Republic of Turkiye.” Earlier this year, Iraq announced a ban on the PKK.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres both expressed their solidarity with Turkiye.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also denounced the attack. "Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims,” he said on X.

Associated Press writer Robert Badendieck in Hamburg, Germany, contributed.