At least three people have died and 14 have been injured this Wednesday in an attack on an aircraft factory on the outskirts of Ankara, the capital of Türkiye. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has described it as a “terrorist attack.”
Military aircraft, helicopters and military aeronautical material are manufactured in the attacked facilities, owned by the Turkish State. In addition to several explosions, there has been a shooting at the entrance to the factory. “A terrorist attack has been carried out against the TUSAS facilities in Kahramankazan (district) in Ankara,” Yerlikaya wrote on the social network. Shortly after, the minister reported that there were at least “three dead and 14 injured.”
A large number of police, as well as firefighters and ambulances, have gone to the scene of the attack and, according to the NTV radio station, shooting continues inside the factory. The CNNTürk network assures that the attackers arrived at the site in a taxi and that at least one blew himself up at the door, while others managed to access the premises. Television images show the damaged entrance fence and a shooting in the facility’s parking lot.
Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, has reacted to the attack with a post on X: “The news from Ankara is very worrying. NATO is with our ally Türkiye. “We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and are monitoring the situation very closely.” Shortly after, the Dutchman announced that he had spoken by phone with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president.
TUSAS is one of the most important arms companies in Türkiye. It employs more than 10,000 workers and develops and manufactures some of the most prestigious military aircraft in the Turkish weapons program, such as the Kaan fighter-bomber – still in the pipeline -, the Hürjet training aircraft or the Hürkus light aircraft.
