Four dead and 14 wounded are the toll so far of the armed attack on the headquarters of the Turkish Air and Space Industry TUSAS in the Kahramangazan district on the outskirts of Ankara, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. He said three of the 14 injured were in critical condition.
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Speaking at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the BRICS summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said there were 4 dead and 14 wounded.
"There was a terrorist attack against TUSAS facilities in Ankara, unfortunately, we had dead and wounded in this attack," the interior minister wrote earlier in a post on platform X.
Two of the three attackers are reportedly dead.
Habertürk television referred to them as "hostages", saying the attack was still ongoing.
A female suicide bomber ran to the entrance to the facility and blew herself up, according to Bloomberg, a source familiar with the situation. Two men then entered with automatic weapons and took an unspecified number of employees hostage, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The rest of the staff had been moved to shelters, he added.
Private broadcaster NTV reported gunfire after the blast occurred at about 4 p.m. Turkey's media watchdog imposed a broadcast ban on the incident, according to Bloomberg.
Turkish television broadcast images showing gunmen storming the TUSAS building and gunfire and a powerful explosion were heard. Other images show a destroyed gate and gunfire in a parking lot. In other footage, the attackers can be seen carrying guns and backpacks as they enter the building. Thick white smoke rises in front of the entrance to the site, located about 40 km. from the capital.
Emergency services have been dispatched to the scene.
There has been no claim of responsibility for this attack so far.
In broadcast images, thick white smoke can be seen rising in front of the entrance to the site, located about 40 km away. from the capital.
A major exhibition of defense and aerospace industries is taking place this week in Istanbul, where mainly the visit of the Ukrainian foreign minister took place.
The defense sector, including the famous Bayraktar drones, accounted for nearly 80% of the country's export revenues and $10.2 billion for the year 2023.
TUSAS is one of Turkey's most important defense and air transport companies. Among other things, it manufactures the KAAN, the country's first national fighter aircraft.
Turkey has suffered terrorist attacks by separatist Kurdish fighters, their affiliates and Islamic State in the past. Six people were killed and dozens injured in a terrorist attack in central Istanbul in November 2022, which, according to the government, was carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The group, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, claimed responsibility for a bombing last year in Ankara.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, commenting on the deadly attack in Turkey, said that "NATO stands with our ally Turkey, we strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and we are closely monitoring developments."
