The National Intelligence Organisation targeted numerous ‘strategic locations’ used by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia [GETTY]
Turkey struck suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq for a second day on Thursday following an attack on the premises of a key defence company which killed at least five people, the state-run news agency reported.
The National Intelligence Organisation targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia that are affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported.
The targets included military, intelligence, energy and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, the report said. A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out airstrikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hours after government officials blamed the deadly attack at the headquarters of the aerospace and defence company TUSAS on the PKK. More than 30 targets were destroyed in the aerial offensive, the defence ministry said.
The assailants, a man and a woman, arrived at the TUSAS premises in the outskirts of Ankara in a taxi they commandeered after killing its driver, reports said.
Armed with assault rifles, they set off explosives and opened fire, killing four people at TUSAS, including a security personnel and a mechanical engineer.
Security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at around 3:30pm, the interior minister said. The two assailants were also killed, and more than 20 people were injured in the attack.
There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.
TUSAS designs, manufactures, and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other defence industry and space systems. Its defence systems have been credited with helping Turkey gain an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants.
The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party, which is allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raised the possibility that the PKK’s imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organisation.
Abdullah Ocalan’s group has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
