PKK claims attack on Turkish defence company near Ankara that killed five

Defence Ministry says it hit 34 targets of the outlawed group in north Iraq as Turkey arrests 176 suspects over assault.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Turkish state-run defence company near the capital, Ankara, that killed five people and wounded 22.

The “act of sacrifice” in Ankara “was carried out by a team of the immortals battalion” of the PKK, the group said on the Telegram messaging app on Friday.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) was attacked on Wednesday with fighters setting off explosives and opening fire using automatic rifles at the campus of the company that designs and manufactures civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other defence industry and space systems.

On Friday, Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence said it carried out air strikes for the second night in a row in northern Iraq, hitting 34 PKK targets in Hakurk, Gara, Qandil and Sinjar, destroying shelters, warehouses and other facilities.

The overnight strikes followed a security meeting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired with key ministers and chiefs of the armed forces and intelligence agency in Istanbul.

The Turkish government said earlier it had proof that the PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, was behind the attack.

Turkish forces earlier struck 29 targets in northern Iraq and 18 in northern Syria following the attack on TUSAS, with Erdogan saying the perpetrators “infiltrated Turkey from Syria”, Turkish media reported on Friday.

Speaking to reporters during his flight back to Turkey from Russia’s Kazan, where he attended the BRICS summit, the president pledged to “eradicate terrorism at its source” in Syria, adding that his country would continue the struggle against armed fighters until the end.

Erdogan pledged there would be no letup in the fight against the PKK, saying the overnight bombing campaign had made “the terrorists pay a very heavy price”, according to state media.

On Friday, the Reuters news agency quoted security sources as saying Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) had hit a total of 120 PKK targets in Iraq and Syria since the attack near Ankara.

Security personnel outside the headquarters of TUSAS near Ankara, on October 23, 2024 [Stringer/Reuters]

Turkish drone strikes killed 27 civilians in north and east Syria in a 24-hour military escalation following the deadly attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said on Friday.

It said it documented 45 drone strikes and four by fighter jets targeting infrastructure including water and power networks and gas stations. The Turkish army rejects claims it hits civilian targets.

Separately, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday that 176 suspected PKK members were arrested in operations across Turkey.

Turkey regularly conducts air attacks against the PKK in Iraq and against a Kurdish group in Syria affiliated with it. The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies