Turkey news: Turkey’s air force on Thursday, October 24, targeted militants of Kurdistan Workers Party (KWP) in Iraq and Syria in a response to a deadly terror attack on its defense firm near Ankara that killed five and injured 22. In a statement, the defense ministry said it destroyed more than 30 targets in the aerial offensive but did not provide details on the locations that were hit.
Believing Kurdish militants were behind the terror attack on the defense company, it said “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent harm to civilians.
The strikes on KWP targets in Iraq and Syria came hours after suspected Kurdish militants – a man and a woman – set off bombs and and opened fire at the aerospace and defense company TUSAS on Wednesday, October 23. Here are 10 things to know about Turkey terror attack.
TURKEY TERROR ATTACK NEWS: TOP THINGS TO KNOW
- Two assailants attacked the premises of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. killing five and injuring more than 20. They were “eliminated” by security forces.
- Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said four of the victims were TAI employees while the fifth was a taxi driver. According to the media reports, the attackers had killed the taxi driver and used his taxi to carry out the attacks.
- TV footage captured smoke rising over the TAI campus, with explosions and gunfire echoing in the background. Later, Turkey’s media regulator issued a broadcast ban and restricted access to major social media platforms.
- At the time of the attack, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Erdogan later condemned the attack, terming it as a “heinous terrorist attack”. Putin offered his “condolences in connection with the terror attack.”
- The militant Kurdistan Workers‘ Party, or PKK, was believed to be behind the attack at the defense company. However, no one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack on Turkey.
- Listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. It has a number of rear bases in Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria.
- Pointing finger at the Kurdish militants, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said, “We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses. We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.” Turkish drone strikes in Syria kill 4 U.S.-backed fighters, wound 11 civilians, Kurdish group says
- The terror attack on Turkey occurred a day after far-right nationalist party leader that’s allied with Erdogan raised the possibility that the PKK’s imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organisation.
- The attack rattled Turkish markets, with the country’s benchmark stock index declining as much as 2 per cent. The lira dropped 0.1 per cent to trade at 34.28 per dollar at 9:48 pm in Istanbul.
- TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense industry and space systems. Its UAVs have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants both on its own territory and across the border in Iraq.
