At least 5 killed in ‘terrorist attack’ on Turkish defense company

ISTANBUL — At least five people were killed and 14 injured in a “terrorist attack” at the headquarters of one of Turkey’s top defense companies on Wednesday, the country’s interior minister said.

Condemning the attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) facility as “heinous,” Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X that two of the attackers had been killed.

There was no immediate information to suggest who might be behind the attack on the facility which manufactures fighter jets and other equipment for NATO’s second largest military after the United States.

Turkish media reported explosions and gunfire from the site around 20 miles north of the country’s capital Ankara.

Speaking to members of the media, Yerlikaya said five people had been killed, raising the death toll for the second time since the attack was first reported. Initial reports said 14 people had been injured, some of whom were “in serious condition.”

“May our martyrs rest in heaven, I wish a speedy recovery to our wounded,” he said.

Selim Cirpanoglum, the mayor of the district of Kahramankazan where the factory is based, told NBC News that the attackers arrived at the entrance of the facility in a yellow taxi.

He added there were two different explosions at the site.

The attack came as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Russian city of Kazan, where he is attending the BRICS summit along with leaders from other nations from the global south.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Erdogan about the attack at a meeting on the sidelines of the summit, Reuters reported.

In a statement Wednesday, Erdogan called the incident “a despicable attack” and confirmed that both attackers had been killed.

Turkey has in recent decades faced an insurgency by ethnic Kurds fighting for their own independent state.

One of the parties involved with this, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, is outlawed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and others, but are seen by some Kurds as freedom fighters.

The attack came one day after an ally of Erdogan, said that the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, could be allowed to speak in parliament if he announced an end to this warfare.

Aziz Akyavas reported from Istanbul and Alexander Smith from London.