Turkey Strikes PKK Forces in Syria and Iraq Following Deadly Terrorist Attack in Ankara

Turkey's air force struck Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in northern Syria and Iraq late on Wednesday in response to a deadly terrorist attack on the defence company's headquarters near Ankara earlier in the day. This was announced by the Turkish Ministry of Defence.

‘I condemn this horrific terrorist attack,’ Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia.

According to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu, 32 targets were destroyed during the evening attack, and air operations are ongoing.

The Ministry of Defence said that the Turkish armed forces ‘will continue to fight terrorism with determination and resolve until there is not a single terrorist left’.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Erlikaya said that PKK members were ‘probably’ responsible for the attack on the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAŞ), which left five people dead and 22 injured, Anadolu reported.

TUSAŞ, a state-owned defence equipment manufacturer, builds and assembles military and civilian aircraft at the plant. Neither the PKK nor any other group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Wednesday's violence marks the latest flare-up in the ongoing struggle between Turkey and the banned Kurdish group, which the Turkish government - and some Western allies, including the United States - have designated as a terrorist organisation.