Attackers kill four and injure 14 at a Turkish state air force base

For Ece Toksabay i Mert Ozkan for Reuters

Turkish police officers gather in Kahramankazan, north of Ankara, on October 23, 2024, near the gate of the Turkish Aerospace Industries, after a large explosion outside the headquarters.
Photo: AFP

Four people were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters on Wednesday, the government said, and witnesses said they heard gunshots and a loud explosion at the site near Ankara.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said two attackers were killed in what he called a terrorist attack, adding that three of the wounded were in critical condition. Television stations earlier showed footage of armed assailants entering the TUSAS building.

“Two terrorists were neutralized in the terrorist attack at the TUSAS Ankara Kahramankazan site. Unfortunately, we have three martyrs and 14 wounded in the attack,” Yerlikaya said, referring to the aerospace industries.

Tayyip Erdogan
Photo: AFP

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, along with Russian Vladimir Putin at a BRICS conference in the Russian city of Kazan, also called it a terrorist attack.

The cause and perpetrators of the explosion and subsequent gunfire were still unclear. No group had claimed.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Some media reports claimed that a suicide attack had taken place and that there were hostages inside the building, although officials have not confirmed this.

Witnesses told Reuters that employees inside the building were taken by authorities to shelters and no one was allowed to leave for several hours. They said the explosions they heard may have taken place at different exits as employees left work for the day.

Broadcasters showed footage of a damaged door and footage of a shootout in a parking lot, as well as attackers carrying assault rifles and backpacks as they entered the building. Ambulances and helicopters later arrived.

TUSAS is Turkey’s largest aerospace manufacturer, currently producing a training craft, combat and civil helicopters, as well as developing the country’s first indigenous fighter jet, KAAN.

Owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation and the government, it employs more than 10,000 people.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte condemned the attack and said the military alliance would remain with its ally Turkey. The delegation of the European Union in Turkey has also condemned the attack.

– Reuters