The PKK says it attacked a Turkish defense company near Ankara that killed five people | Military Affairs

The Ministry of Defense says it has hit 34 targets of the illegal group in northern Iraq as Turkey arrested 176 suspects in the attack.

The illegal Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) says it is responsible for an attack on a Turkish state-owned security company near the capital, Ankara, killing five people and injuring 22.

The “act of sacrifice” in Ankara was “performed by the immortal army team” of the PKK, the group said on the Telegram messaging app on Friday.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) was attacked on Wednesday by fighters who detonated explosives and opened fire using automatic weapons on the campus of the company that designs and manufactures military and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other defense industry and space systems.

On Friday, Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense said it carried out airstrikes for the second night in a row in northern Iraq, hitting 34 PKK in Hakurk, Gara, Qandil and Sinjar, destroying shelters, warehouses and other facilities.

The overnight strikes follow a security meeting chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with key ministers and the chiefs of the military and intelligence agencies in Istanbul.

The Turkish government previously said it had evidence that the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, was responsible for the attack.

Turkish forces earlier raided 29 locations in northern Iraq and 18 in northern Syria following the TUSAS attack, with Erdogan saying the terrorists “sneak into Turkey from Syria”, Turkish media reported on Friday.

Speaking to reporters on his return to Turkey from Kazan, Russia, where he attended the BRICS summit, the president pledged to “end terrorism at its source” in Syria, adding that his country will continue the struggle against armed forces until the end.

Erdogan promised there would be no compromise in the fight against the PKK, saying the overnight bombing campaign had made “terrorists pay a very heavy price”, according to state media.

On Friday, Reuters news agency quoted security sources as saying that Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has hit a total of 120 PKK fighters in Iraq and Syria since the attack near Ankara.

Johannesburg – Turkish strikes killed 27 civilians in northern and eastern Syria during the military escalation that lasted 24 hours following this horrific incident, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a military monitor, said on Friday.

It said it had documented 45 drone strikes and four fighter jet strikes targeting infrastructure including water and power networks and fuel stations. The Turkish army denies its claims that it is hitting civilian targets.

Separately, the Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on Friday that 176 PKK suspects were arrested at work across Turkey.

Turkey regularly attacks the PKK in Iraq and the Kurdish group in Syria allied with it. The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s.