Turkey points finger at PKK as attack on defence firm kills five, injures 22

Assailants set off explosives and opened fire in an attack Wednesday on the premises of the Turkish state-run aerospace and defence company TUSAS, killing five people and wounding several more, Turkish officials said. At least two of the attackers died.

“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack and wish mercy on our martyrs,” Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Kazan, Russia.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya pointed the finger at the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the government.

"The identification process and the search for fingerprints are continuing and we will say which terrorist organisation was behind the attack... The way in which this action was carried out is very probably linked to the PKK," Yerlikaya said.

He said efforts to identify the perpetrators were ongoing.

Kurdish militants, the Islamic State group and leftist extremists have all carried out attacks in the country in the past.

'Terror attack'

Shortly after 3:30 pm, a huge explosion rocked the headquarters of state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara. 

It sent clouds of smoke into the air as the sound of gunfire rang out, Turkish media reported in an incident quickly denounced by Yerlikaya as a "terror attack". 

Security camera images from the attack, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.

Turkish media said three assailants, including a woman, arrived at an entry to the complex inside a taxi. The assailants, who were carrying assault weapons, then detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter the complex.

Multiple gunshots were heard after Turkish security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.

As night fell, dozens of ambulances could be seen waiting in convoy near the site, their blue lights flashing. 

Global condemnation

The attack drew condemnation from across Turkey and beyond, with Putin offering Erdogan his "condolences in connection with the terror attack" at the start of their meeting.

Statements of condemnation and condolences to the families of the victims were also issued by Brussels, Berlin and the US and French embassies in Turkey as well as by Iran.

NATO chief Mark Rutte offered the alliance's backing in a call with Erdogan. 

"I just spoke with (President) Erdogan about the terror attack in Ankara. My message was clear: NATO stands with Turkiye," Rutte wrote on X, using the country's official Turkish name.  

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The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the bloc condemned the deadly attack by "terrorists".

"Today, the headquarters of a Turkish aviation company in Ankara was attacked by terrorists, resulting in deaths and injuries. We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms. The EU expresses solidarity with Turkiye in this difficult time," Borrell wrote on X.

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Dialogue on the horizon?

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles both civilian and military aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defence industry and space systems. The UAVs have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants in Turkey and across the border in Iraq.

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkey's “success in the defence industry”.

“It should be known that these attacks will not be able to deter the heroic employees of defence industry,” he wrote on X.

The attack came as Turkey's political establishment appeared to be leaning towards a political, negotiated solution to the decades-long conflict with the Kurdish militants. 

The timing was not lost on the main pro-Kurdish party, Dem, the third largest force in parliament, which said it was "noteworthy that the attack took place just as Turkish society was talking about a solution and the possibility of dialogue".

It took place a day after the head of the far-right MHP, which belongs to Erdogan's ruling coalition, invited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address parliament to announce his movement's dissolution.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP)