Turkey Begins Manhunt On Kurdish Separatist Group After Claiming Attack Near Ankara

One of the Kurdish attackers armed with an AK 47 Rifle

by Admin

Oct 25, 2024

Ali Orek, One of the two Kurdish attackers. Image via AFP

Turkey’s government has confirmed that its military struck Kurdish sites in Iraq Syria belonging to PKK militants who claimed responsibility for the attack on Turkish aerospace base near Ankara on Wednesday.

Turkey’s military said the airstrikes were carried out simultaneously since the attack on Wednesday evening and have also killed 59 PKK militants.

A claim by the Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) militia denies but rather claims that 12 innocent civilians were killed by Turkey’s airstrikes on their northern and southern territories in Syria.

Turkey’s ministry of defense has however denied any claim of responsibility or involvement for killing civilians in Syria, in a statement issued by the ministry, which said it carried airstrikes on Wednesday and Thursday against Kurdish militants in northern and southern Syria in caves, shelter houses and warehouse and 47 militants were killed in the airstrikes.

The Turkish defense ministry said earlier that “all kinds of precautions were taken to prevent harm to innocent civilians, friendly elements, historical and cultural assets and the environment”.

The attack on a Turkish aerospace company near the capital was carried out by a man and woman who killed five civilians and injured 22 others while the attackers were killed by security forces.

Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan said the attack by the militants was a “heinous attack” and has promised to bring all sides involved in the attack to justice.

The Turkish media disclosed the identity and the occupation of the victims of the attack as Cengiz Coskun, a quality control officer, Zahide Guclu, a mechanical engineer, security guard Atakan Sahin Erdogan, another employee called Huseyin Canbaz and Murat Arslan, the taxi driver.

Cevdet Yilmaz, the Vice President of Turkey said that four of the five victims were workers of TAI company while the fifth victim was the cab driver who was killed by the attackers and had his cab snatched from him.

Ali Yerlikaya, the Interior Minister of Turkey identified the two attackers as Kurds who were named PKK members Ali Orek and Mine Sevjin Alcicek.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a banned terrorist organization in Turkey, also in the United States and the United Kingdom , and has been in constant fight against Turkey’s government since the 1980s for greater rights for the country’s significant Kurdish minority.

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