Turkey strikes more targets in Iraq and Syria after several killed in Ankara ‘terror attack’
Turkey has launched a second day of successive strikes in Iraq and Syria after five people were killed, and 22 injured, in an apparent terror attack in Ankara.
Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the two attackers – a man and a woman – were killed after the alleged terror incident at a defence and aerospace company in the capital.
Two of the 22 injured were said to be in critical condition.
Turkey attack catch up: Updates as it happened
An explosion in Tal Rifaat, northern Syria.
Pic: Reuters
While no one has claimed responsibility yet, the Turkish defence ministry said its jets conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets.
PKK is considered a terrorist group by NATO-member Turkey and its Western allies.
The country’s National Intelligence Organisation added that it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by not just PKK, but also Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the group, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish militia fighters were involved in the US-led battle against the Islamic State insurgency in both countries between 2013 and 2019.
The aftermath of an explosion in Tal Rifaat, northern Syria.
Pic: Reuters
Turkey’s targets were said to include military, intelligence, energy, and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, it was reported.
A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out airstrikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq hours after the initial incident.
Defence minister Yasar Guler said that Wednesday’s airstrikes destroyed 47 alleged PKK targets – 29 in Iraq and 18 in Syria.
In Syria, the main US-backed force said that Turkish strikes had killed 12 civilians and injured 25 people.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which worked with the US in defeating IS, claimed the attacks hit bakeries, power stations, oil facilities and local checkpoints.
A CCTV image believed to show one of the alleged attackers
‘Heinous terrorist attack’
Multiple gunshots were heard on Wednesday after Turkish security forces entered the TUSAS (Turkish Aerospace Industries) site, in the capital city of Ankara, local media reported.
TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defence and aerospace companies and produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.
CCTV captured two gunmen, the man and the woman, entering the facility with assault rifles and backpacks.
Turkey’s state-run news agency named the five victims, and their occupations: quality control employee Cengiz Coskun; mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu; employee Hasan Huseyin Canbaz; security personnel Atakan Sahin Erdogan, and taxi driver Murat Arslan.
“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack and wish mercy on our martyrs,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Kazan, Russia.
Mr Putin, who is hosting world leaders including Mr Erdogan at a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, expressed his condolences.
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The attack came a day after Mr Erdogan raised the possibility that PKK’s imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organisation.
There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Pic: Reuters
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Mr Trump late on Monday. He thanked him for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.
Weapons being sent from to Ukraine include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which the country has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
Mr Zelenskyy previously criticised Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag [the war] out”, and said Kyiv was “working on major defence agreements with America”.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
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