Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
An Attack on a Key Turkish Defense Company Leaves 4 Dead
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 months ago on
October 23, 2024

Smoke raises as emergency rescue teams and police officers attend outside Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (IHA via AP)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

ANKARA, Turkey — Attackers set off explosives and opened fire Wednesday at Turkey’s state-run aerospace and defense company TUSAS, killing four people and wounding more than a dozen, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Two of the attackers — a man and a woman — were also killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. He did not say what organization was behind the attack, as the process of identifying the assailants continued. Kurdish militants, the Islamic State group and leftist extremists have carried out past attacks in Turkey.

“We have four martyrs. We have 14 wounded. I condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Russia.

Putin offered condolences. A U.S. Embassy statement said Washington “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack.”

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense industry and space systems. Its UAVs have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants in Turkey and across the border in Iraq.

The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party that’s allied with Erdogan raised the possibility that the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization.

Abdullah Ocalan’s group has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Turkish media said three assailants arrived Wednesday at an entry to the TUSAS complex in a taxi. The assailants, carrying assault weapons, detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter.

The taxi driver was among the dead, according to HaberTurk television.

Security camera images, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.

The interior minister said security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at around 3:30 p.m.

Multiple gunshots were heard after security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkey’s “success in the defense industry.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

DON'T MISS

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

DON'T MISS

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

DON'T MISS

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

DON'T MISS

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

UP NEXT

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

UP NEXT

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

UP NEXT

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

UP NEXT

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

UP NEXT

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

UP NEXT

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

UP NEXT

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

13 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

13 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

14 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

14 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

14 hours ago

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

15 hours ago

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

15 hours ago

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

15 hours ago

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

16 hours ago

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

16 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

Elon Musk has reclaimed his position as the world’s wealthiest individual, according to Forbes’ 39th annual World’s Billio...

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

12 hours ago

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

Nassau Hall at Princeton University is in Princeton, N.J., Oct. 8, 2024. (AP File)
12 hours ago

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

After 31 years of service, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy IV and Pilot Michael Sill is retiring, having logged over 10,000 flight hours.
13 hours ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
13 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

14 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

14 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

Vehicles at an Audi showroom in Miami, March 29, 2025. President Donald Trump has said that tariffs would encourage auto companies and their suppliers to move to the U.S. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)
14 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend