Five people killed in attack at Turkish aerospace company

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.

Putin offered him condolences over the attack. 

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.

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

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.  

To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

Accept Manage my choices

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.

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles both civilian and military aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense 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 defense industry”.

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

(FRANCE 24 with AP)