Turkey has launched a second day of successive strikes in Iraq and Syria after five people were killed, and 22 injured, in an apparent terror attack in Ankara.
Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the two attackers – a man and a woman – were killed after the alleged terror incident at a defence and aerospace company in the capital.
Two of the 22 injured were said to be in critical condition.
Turkey attack catch up: Updates as it happened
While no one has claimed responsibility yet, the Turkish defence ministry said its jets conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets.
PKK is considered a terrorist group by NATO-member Turkey and its Western allies.
The country’s National Intelligence Organisation added that it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by not just PKK, but also Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the group, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish militia fighters were involved in the US-led battle against the Islamic State insurgency in both countries between 2013 and 2019.
The aftermath of an explosion in Tal Rifaat, northern Syria.
Pic: Reuters
Turkey’s targets were said to include military, intelligence, energy, and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, it was reported.
A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out airstrikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq hours after the initial incident.
Defence minister Yasar Guler said that Wednesday’s airstrikes destroyed 47 alleged PKK targets – 29 in Iraq and 18 in Syria.
In Syria, the main US-backed force said that Turkish strikes had killed 12 civilians and injured 25 people.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which worked with the US in defeating IS, claimed the attacks hit bakeries, power stations, oil facilities and local checkpoints.
A CCTV image believed to show one of the alleged attackers
‘Heinous terrorist attack’
Multiple gunshots were heard on Wednesday after Turkish security forces entered the TUSAS (Turkish Aerospace Industries) site, in the capital city of Ankara, local media reported.
TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defence and aerospace companies and produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.
CCTV captured two gunmen, the man and the woman, entering the facility with assault rifles and backpacks.
Turkey’s state-run news agency named the five victims, and their occupations: quality control employee Cengiz Coskun; mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu; employee Hasan Huseyin Canbaz; security personnel Atakan Sahin Erdogan, and taxi driver Murat Arslan.
“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack and wish mercy on our martyrs,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Kazan, Russia.
Mr Putin, who is hosting world leaders including Mr Erdogan at a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, expressed his condolences.
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The attack came a day after Mr Erdogan raised the possibility that PKK’s imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organisation.
There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.
