Ankara attack: Turkey says PKK main suspects in deadly attack on defence company

Interior Minister said two attackers dead after incident at aerospace company Tusas

A heavily-armed suspect enters the Turkish aerospace and defence company Tusas in Ankara. EPA

Seven people have died, including two shooters, after a “terrorist attack” at the headquarters of Turkish aerospace and defence company Tusas in Ankara on Wednesday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 14 people were injured and the attackers, “a woman and a man, have been neutralised”. Security forces, ambulances and firefighters were sent to the site in the north-west of Ankara after an explosion was heard, the pro-Turkish government television channel NTV reported.

Gunshots were heard after the explosion at the entrance gate of Tusas's premises, Turkish news channel Haberturk said. NTV reported that security troops and terrorists were “clashing” in the area and that people had been taken hostage. Personnel at the site were directed to shelters, the channel added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Brics conference in the Russian city of Kazan, also called it a terrorist attack.

No group has claimed responsibility, but Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler said the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish militia listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, was behind it.

“As they always do, they tried to disturb our nation's peace through a despicable and dishonourable attack … we will make them suffer for what they have done,” Mr Guler said.

Members of the PKK “do not get wiser”, he said. “I repeat what I have always said, we will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated and we will make them pay for what they have done.”

Mr Yerlikaya said: “The way in which this action was carried out is very probably linked to the PKK.” He said efforts to identify the perpetrators of the attack were continuing.

Turkey experienced a wave of suicide bombings in 2015 and 2016, mostly attributed to ISIS and the PKK. Since then, Turkey has had a period of improved security, although attackers still occasionally hit crowded areas and security personnel. Six people were killed and dozens wounded when an explosion hit the bustling Istiklal Avenue, close to Taksim Square in central Istanbul, in November last year. 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, which was condemned by Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who said the military alliance would stand with its member Turkey. The EU and the UAE also criticised the attack.

The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “strong condemnation of these criminal acts and its permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability in contravention of international law”, and sent condolences to the families of the victims.

“I condemn the terrorist attack against TAI facilities in Kahramankazan … I condemn terrorism, no matter who or where it comes from,” Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel, who leads the Republican People's Party, wrote on X.

John Kirby, US National Security Council spokesman, said: “Our prayers are with all of those affected and their families and of course, also the people of Turkey at this very difficult time.

“Now, Turkish authorities, as they said, are investigating this as a possible terrorist attack. And while we don't yet know the motive or who is exactly behind it, we strongly condemn this, this act of violence.”

Tusas is Turkey's largest aerospace manufacturer, making military aircraft including planes, drones and helicopters. Owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation and government, it employs more than 10,000 people.

Hours later, Turkey launched strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria in “an air operation was carried out against terrorist targets in the north of Iraq and Syria”, the Defence Ministry said. “A total of 32 targets belonging to the terrorists were successfully destroyed.”

The ministry said that operations were continuing.

Listed as a terror group by Turkey and its western allies, the PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. It has bases in Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria.