Turkish air strikes hit PKK targets in Iraq again after Ankara attack

Turkey carried out air strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq overnight, hitting dozens of targets for the second night in a row, the Defence Ministry said on Friday, after a gun attack that killed five people in Ankara.

The operation followed a security meeting that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired with key ministers and the armed forces and intelligence agency chiefs in Istanbul on Thursday evening.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency in southeast Turkey for four decades, claimed responsibility on Friday for Wednesday's attack in Ankara.

Turkey hit 34 PKK targets in Hakurk, Gara, Qandil and Sinjar in northern Iraq, destroying shelters, warehouses and other facilities, and "neutralising" a large number of militants, the ministry said.

Security sources said separately that Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) had hit a total of 120 PKK targets in Iraq and Syria since the attack in Ankara.

Two assailants - a man and a woman - carried out Wednesday's assault with automatic rifles and explosives on the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) in Ankara. Twenty-two people were also wounded.

A woman reacts at the entrance of the headquarters of Turkey's aviation company TUSAS, where people were killed and others wounded in an attack, near Kahramankazan, a town of Turkish capital Ankara, October 23, 2024.Reuters

Ongoing operation in northern Iraq, Syria

Turkey regularly targets the PKK in Iraq and Syria with fighter jets and drones. TUSAS is Turkey's largest aerospace manufacturer, producing drones, helicopters, training craft and developing the country's first indigenous fighter jet, KAAN.

Security was tightened at TUSAS headquarters on Thursday, with security forces searching vehicles and checking people's identities, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

The alert level was raised to "orange" at Turkish airports as part of increased security measures, an aviation sector source told Reuters.

Erdogan denounces attack

Erdogan, speaking alongside Russia's Vladimir Putin at a BRICS conference in the Russian city of Kazan, condemned the attack, as did NATO, the United States, and European Union, which all designate the PKK as a terrorist organization.

"This cowardly attack has further strengthened Turkey's determination to eliminate terrorism," Erdogan said at the summit on Thursday.

Flags with a picture of the jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan and of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (L) are pictured during a gathering of supporters of the Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) to celebrate the party's victory during the parliamentary election, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 8, 2015.Reuters

Eyes on PKK leader

Wednesday's attack came a day after a key ally of Erdogan said the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan may be allowed to speak in Turkey's parliament, if he announces an end to the group's insurgency, in exchange for the possibility of being released.

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli made the surprise suggestion following media speculation in recent weeks about fresh efforts to end the PKK insurgency, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

The PKK took up arms 40 years ago with the initial aim of creating an independent Kurdish state. It subsequently moderated its goals to seeking greater Kurdish rights and limited autonomy in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

It was not immediately clear whether Wednesday's attack would affect Bahceli's offer or whether it was intended to derail any such move.

Ocalan's nephew said he visited the PKK leader on Wednesday in the island prison south of Istanbul where he has been held since his capture in 1999. It was the first such visit in around four years.

"If the conditions are right, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from a foundation of conflict and violence to legal and political ground," the nephew, Omer Ocalan, quoted his uncle as saying on X.