The Turkish air force struck positions of Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria tonight apparently in response to yesterday's attack on a key state-owned defense industry company. The attack killed five people and injured over 20, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
Turkey's Defense Ministry said more than 30 targets had been "destroyed" in the air offensive without providing details of the locations that were hit. The agency indicated that "all kinds of precautions" were taken so that civilians would not be affected by the strikes.
The Turkish action was carried out hours after suspected Kurdish extremists set off explosives and opened fire on the complex of Turkey's national aerospace company TUSAS. (TUSAS). Two attackers - a man and a woman - were also killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. At least 22 people, including seven security personnel, were injured in the attack.
Yerlikaya said the attack was probably the work of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Defense Minister Yaşar Güler supported this opinion.
„Every time we punish these PKK villains as they deserve. However, they never come to their senses”, Güler said.
„We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated,” he added.
Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes against the PKK, which has bases in Iraq, and against Kurdish militias in Syria.
The PKK has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the EU and the US. Tens of thousands have died in the conflict.
The PKK has not yet commented.
The group "Islamic State" and left-wing extremists have also carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
The Iraqi embassy in Ankara condemned yesterday's attack in TUSAS. An embassy statement said it "reaffirms Iraq's firm position to reject terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations and expresses the solidarity of the government and people of Iraq with the government and people of the Republic of Turkey". Earlier this year, Iraq banned the PKK.
"TUSASH" designs, manufactures and assembles civil and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense and space systems. Its drones have played an important role in Turkey's supremacy in the battle against Kurdish extremists.