A terrorist attack took place at the headquarters of the state-owned defense company Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), near Ankara, Turkey, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
On October 23, 2024, local media first reported seeing large clouds of smoke and a major fire at the entrance of a facility in Kahramankazan, located approximately 40 kilometers north of Ankara.
Initial reports indicate that a taxi brought a group of terrorists to the complex’s entrance during a shift change among the security guards. One of the attackers detonated a bomb, allowing the others to enter the facility.
“Unfortunately, we have martyrs and wounded people after the attack,” Yerlikaya confirmed in a post on X, published on the evening of October 23, 2024. Two terrorists were “neutralized in the terrorist attack”, which left 22 people injured and five dead, Yerlikaya confirmed.
On October 24, 2024, Yerlikaya shared on X that one male terrorist had been identified as a member of the PKK terrorist group, while the identification process for a female perpetrator is still ongoing.
The attack happened while Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan was having a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan. Putin offered his condolences for the tragic event, Anadolu Ajansı reported on October 23, 2024.
In response to the Ankara attack, Turkey launched strikes on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) locations in northern Iraq and northern Syria, killing 59 “terrorists.” Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed that 47 targets were destroyed.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the attack.