At least five people have been killed and 22 others wounded in an attack on the headquarters of Turkey’s aerospace and defence company, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS), near the capital Ankara, Turkey’s interior minister has said.
“Two terrorists were neutralised” in the incident at the headquarters of the state-run firm, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X on Wednesday.
“Sadly, we have 5 martyrs and 22 wounded in the attack. Three of the injured were already discharged from hospital, 19 of them under treatment,” he said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was holding talks in Russia with Vladimir Putin at the time of the attack, condemned what he said was a “heinous terrorist attack”.
Footage from the scene broadcast by local media just after the attack, which took place at 3:30pm local time (12:30 GMT), showed huge clouds of smoke and a large fire raging at the site in Kahramankazan, a small town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara.
According to local media reports, there was a loud explosion at the site and subsequent gunfire.
Security camera images from the attack, aired by broadcasters, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle. The images also appeared to show a woman carrying a weapon.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Ankara, said some 15,000 people work at the TUSAS campus in Kahramankazan.
“There are claims that attackers who infiltrated took some of the workers as hostage, but we don’t have further details,” she said.
“Apparently, the attackers had information about the building, about the entrances,” Koseoglu continued, explaining that the attackers approached the employees’ entrance. “Many of the experts now suggest that this was a strategically planned terrorist attack.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the justice minister said an investigation had been opened. Yerlikaya said it was “probably linked” to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long rebellion against the government.
“The identification process and the search for fingerprints are continuing, and we will say which terrorist organisation was behind the attack,” Yerlikaya said, adding that “the way in which this action was carried out is very probably linked to the PKK”.
Earlier this week, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which belongs to Erdogan’s ruling coalition, invited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address parliament to announce his movement’s dissolution.
‘Deeply concerning’
Turkish politicians and world leaders have condemned the attack, with Putin offering Erdogan his “condolences in connection with the terror attack” at the start of their meeting in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit of major emerging market nations that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“NATO stands with our ally Turkey,” said the head of the alliance, Mark Rutte, in a post on X. “We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and are monitoring developments closely,” he added. Western capitals including Brussels and Berlin have condemned the attack.
Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) released a statement condemning the attack and saying he “condemns terrorism, no matter who or where it comes from”.
The main pro-Kurdish DEM party also condemned the attack, saying it was “noteworthy that the attack took place just as Turkish society was talking about a solution and the possibility of dialogue” with the PKK.
The attack occurred as a major trade fair for the defence and aerospace industries was taking place in Istanbul, which was visited this week by Ukraine’s top diplomat.
TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defence and aviation companies. It produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.
Turkey’s defence sector, which is widely known for its Bayraktar drones, accounts for nearly 80 percent of the nation’s export revenues with revenues expected to top $10.2bn in 2023.
