トルコ、クルド人武装勢力を攻撃　防衛企業への襲撃受け

【アンカラＡＦＰ＝時事】トルコの首都アンカラ近郊の軍事企業「トルコ航空宇宙産業（ＴＡＩ）」の本社が２３日、何者かに襲撃され５人が死亡、２２人が負傷した。政府は、反政府武装組織「クルド労働者党（ＰＫＫ）」の「テロ攻撃」である可能性が高いとして、イラク北部とシリアの標的への攻撃を開始したと発表した。（写真は、トルコ・アンカラ近郊の「トルコ航空宇宙産業〈ＴＡＩ〉」本社付近に集まった救急車両）
　ＴＡＩ本社では同日午後３時半すぎに大規模な爆発が起きた。民放ＮＴＶの未確認情報によれば、建物に侵入した「テロリストグループ」のうちの１人が「自爆」した。別の報道機関は、銃撃戦が１時間以上続いたと伝えている。
　アリ・イェルリカヤ内相は、襲撃に加わった男女１人ずつが「無力化」されたと述べた。犯行声明は出ていないが、同相は「手口から見てＰＫＫに関連している可能性が非常に高い」と語った。
　襲撃の数時間後、国防省は「イラク北部とシリアのテロリストの標的に対する空爆を実施した」と発表。「計３２か所の標的の破壊に成功した」としている。作戦は継続中という。
　ＴＡＩはトルコの主要防衛企業の一社で、従業員数は１万５５００人。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/24-17:03）

Turkey said it launched strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria Wednesday after blaming them for an attack that killed five people at a defence firm near Ankara.
A further 22 people were wounded in the attack, which the government said was very likely carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Hours later, an air operation was carried out against terrorist targets in the north of Iraq and Syria, the defence ministry said in a statement.
A total of 32 targets belonging to the terrorists were successfully destroyed, it said, adding that operations were continuing.
Listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. It has a number of rear bases in Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria.
In the attack that sparked the strikes, a huge explosion rocked the headquarters of state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara shortly after 3:30 pm.
It sent clouds of smoke into the air as the sound of gunfire rang out, Turkish media reported, with the incident quickly denounced by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya as a terror attack.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin, called it a heinous attack on Turkey's defence industry targeting the survival of our country, in a message on X.
- Attackers 'neutralised' -
Yerlikaya said three of the injured were in critical condition and that the two attackers, a woman and a man, had been neutralised.
There was no immediate claim for the attack but Yerlikaya said: The way in which this action was carried out is very probably linked to the PKK.
He said efforts to identify the perpetrators of the attack were ongoing.
Defence Minister Yasar Guler also pointed the finger at PKK villains.
As they always do, they tried to disturb our nation's peace through a despicable and dishonourable attack... we will make them suffer for what they have done, he said.
Turkey's vice president Cevdet Yilmaz said four of the victims were TAI employees while the fifth was a taxi driver. Media reports earlier said the assailants had killed him and taken his taxi to carry out the attack.
- World leaders condemn attack -
An unconfirmed report by private channel NTV said a group of terrorists had burst into the building, one of whom blew himself up while other outlets reported exchanges of fire for more than an hour.
Haberturk TV said there was a hostage situation, with another media pundit saying a number of hostages had been rescued.
Turkish authorities imposed a blackout of live images from the scene.
Sabah newspaper published what it said was a CCTV image from the entrance showing a black-clad young man with a moustache carrying a rucksack and what appeared to be an assault rifle.
As night fell, dozens of ambulances could be seen waiting in convoy near the site, their blue lights flashing.
One of Turkey's top defence firms and a major arms producer, TAI employs 15,500 people and has a vast production site covering an area of five million square metres, its website says.
The attack drew condemnation from across Turkey and beyond, with Putin offering Erdogan his condolences in connection with the terror attack at the start of their meeting.
Statements of condemnation and condolences to the families of the victims also poured in from Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Tehran and Washington and NATO leadership.
- PKK dialogue prospect -
The attack came as Turkey's political establishment appeared to be leaning towards a political, negotiated solution to the decades-long conflict with the Kurdish militants.
The timing was not lost on the main pro-Kurdish party, Dem, the third largest force in parliament, which said it was noteworthy that the attack took place just as Turkish society was talking about a solution and the possibility of dialogue.
It took place a day after the head of the far-right MHP, which belongs to Erdogan's ruling coalition, invited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address parliament to announce his movement's dissolution.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming tens of thousands of lives, with Ocalan held in solitary confinement on a prison island since 1999.