Five Killed, 22 Injured In Deadly Terrorist Attack On Turkish Aerospace HQ

Armed attackers carried out a deadly “terrorist” assault on Turkey’s state-run aerospace company near Ankara on Wednesday, resulting in at least five deaths and 22 injuries, according to government officials.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed that two assailants, a man and a woman, were killed during the attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) headquarters. The victims included four TUSAS employees and a taxi driver who had transported the attackers to the site, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılma reported.

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Verified footage shared on social media captured the moment an explosion hit the facility, followed by a person armed with a firearm running through a parking lot. Separate CCTV footage also showed the attackers, carrying guns and wearing backpacks, approaching the company’s entrance.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler suggested the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group labelled as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States, may have been involved.

Without elaborating on the attackers’ identities, Guler told reporters “we [Turkey] punish the dishonorable PKK members as they deserve over and over again, but they never seem to learn.”

The interior minister later said that while the process to identify the attackers is ongoing, an initial assessment suggests the PKK was behind the attack.

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“As soon as it is confirmed, which terror group it is, it will be announced. But I will say this, we also heard the defence minister’s comments. From the start, the way the attack was carried out, the video we saw, points to the PKK having carried out the attack. That is our assessment,” Yerlikaya told journalists in Ankara outside the hospital where some of the injured were being treated.

The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party brought up Kurdish relations in Parliament, where he suggested offering to release the PKK’s jailed leader if he disbanded the organization, Reuters reported.

Later on Wednesday, several Kurdish areas in Syria and Iraq were struck by Turkey.

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