Ankara attack: Three dead after explosion and gunfire at Turkish defence company offices

Interior Minister said two attackers killed during 'terrorist' incident at Tusas

Emergency teams outside the Tusas offices on the outskirts of Ankara on Wednesday. AP

Three people are dead after a "terrorist attack" outside the premises of the Turkish aerospace and defence company Tusas in Ankara on Wednesday, the country's Interior Minister said.

Ali Yerlikaya said 14 people were injured and two attackers killed in the incident, in which an explosion was heard across the capital. Security forces, ambulances and firefighters were dispatched to the site in the north-west of Ankara, the pro-Turkish government television channel NTV reported.

Gunshots were heard following the explosion at the entrance gate of Tusas's premises, the Turkish news channel Haberturk said. NTV also reported that security forces and terrorists were "clashing" in the area and that an unspecified number of people had been taken hostage. Personnel at the site were directed to shelters, the channel added.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkey experienced a wave of suicide bombings in 2015 and 2016, mostly attributed to ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish militia listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara.

Since then, Turkey has had a period of improved security, although attackers still occasionally hit crowded areas and members of the security forces. Six people were killed and dozens wounded when an explosion rocked the bustling Istiklal Avenue, close to Taksim Square in central Istanbul, in November 2023. In January this year, ISIS claimed responsibility for a shooting in which one person was killed at a Catholic church in Istanbul.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief public prosecutor's office had launched an investigation into the attack. Tusas manufactures military aircraft including warplanes, drones and helicopters.