'Terror attack' in Turkey aviation complex: Minister

Explosion at TAI near Ankara left a number of people 'dead and injured'

Ankara: A huge explosion outside the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) near Ankara left a number of people "dead and injured", Turkey's interior minister said Wednesday, describing it as a "terrorist attack".

"A terrorist attack was carried out against the Turkish Aerospace Industries... Unfortunately, we have martyrs and injured people," Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X.

Local media broadcast footage showing clouds of smoke and a large fire raging at the site in Kahramankazan, a small town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara.

Haberturk TV said there was an ongoing "hostage situation" without giving further details, while the private NTV television spoke of gunshots after the blast, which took place around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).

There was no immediate claim for the attack but the justice minister said an investigation had been opened.

NTV spoke of a suicide attack, saying "a group of terrorists" had burst into TAI's headquarters and one of them blew themself up.

Images shown by Haberturk suggested one attacker was a woman, while Sabah newspaper published a CCTV image from cameras at the building's entrance of a black-clad young man with a moustache carrying a rucksack and what appeared to be an assault rifle.

The attack drew condemnation from Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu as well as opposition leader Ozgur Ozel, who heads the CHP.

"I condemn the terrorist attack against TAI facilities in Kahramankazan... I condemn terrorism, no matter who or where it comes from," Ozel wrote on X.

According to TAI's website, the state-run company, which is also a major arms producer, employs 15,500 people and has a vast production site covering an area of five million square metres.

Erdogan in Russia

The blast occurred as President Recep Tayyp Erdogan was in the Russian city of Kazan for the BRICS summit of major emerging market nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Erdogan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin later on Wednesday.

The Turkish city of Istanbul is hosting a major trade fair for the defence and aerospace industries at the moment, visited this week by Ukraine's top diplomat.

Turkey's defence sector, which is known for its Bayraktar drones, accounts for some 80 percent of the nation's export revenues.

Contracts worth $10.2 billion were signed last year, according to Haluk Gorgun, head of Turkey's state Defence Industry Agency (SSB).

In the first eight months of this year, defence export revenues reached $3.7 billion, up nearly 10 per cent from same period a year earlier, Gorgun said.

The last attack in Turkey took place in January when a man was shot dead by two gunmen who opened fire inside a Catholic church in Istanbul.

That attack was claimed by Daesh jihadists.

In October 2023, two policemen were injured in an attack in the government district in Ankara.

Police shot dead one assailant while the other died in an apparent suicide blast outside the interior ministry.

That attack was claimed by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.