ANKARA: Attackers set off explosives and opened hearth Wednesday at Turkiye’s state-run aerospace and protection firm TUSAS, killing 5 individuals and wounding greater than a dozen, the inside minister stated.
The two attackers — a person and a girl — additionally had been killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated.
Yerlikaya stated the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, is suspected of being behind the assault however cautioned that the method of figuring out the assailants continued. Defense Minister Yasar Guler additionally pointed the finger on the PKK.
“We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses,” Guler stated. “We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
The Daesh group and leftist extremists have additionally carried out previous assaults in Turkiye.
“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated throughout a gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS assembly in Russia.
Putin provided condolences. A US Embassy assertion stated Washington “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack.”
TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and navy plane, unmanned aerial autos and different protection business and house programs. Its UAVs have been instrumental in Turkiye gaining an higher hand in its struggle towards Kurdish militants each by itself territory and throughout the border in Iraq.
The assault occurred a day after the chief of Turkiye’s far-right nationalist get together that’s allied with Erdogan raised the chance that the PKK’s imprisoned chief may very well be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his group.
Abdullah Ocalan’s group has been combating for autonomy in southeast Turkiye in a battle that has killed tens of hundreds of individuals for the reason that Nineteen Eighties. It is taken into account a terrorist group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
The nation’s pro-Kurdish political get together, which additionally condemned the assault, famous that it had occurred at a time when the opportunity of a dialogue to finish the battle had emerged.
Turkish media stated the assailants arrived Wednesday at an entry to the TUSAS advanced in a taxi. The assailants, carrying assault weapons, detonated an explosive gadget subsequent to the taxi, inflicting panic and permitting them to enter.
The taxi driver was among the many lifeless, in keeping with HaberTurk tv.
An unidenfied TUSAS worker shouted: “We will work harder and produce more in defiance of the traitors” as he and different colleagues had been being evacuated from the premises, in keeping with a video aired by HaberTurk.
Security digicam photographs, aired on tv, confirmed a person in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.
The inside minister stated safety groups had been dispatched as quickly because the assault began at round 3:30 p.m.
Multiple gunshots had been heard after safety forces entered the location, the DHA information company and different media reported. Helicopters had been seen flying above the premises.
Authorities issued a brief blackout on the protection of the assault and went on to throttle entry to social media web sites.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz stated the goal of the assault was Turkiye’s “success in the defense industry.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the terrorist assault, saying the United Nations “stands in solidarity” with the individuals and authorities of Turkiye, in keeping with UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis additionally denounced the assault. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims,” he stated on X.