Shots were fired and explosives set off outside the building's entrance yesterday. Turkish authorities reported dead and wounded, and the terrorist attack prompted an armed response against Kurds in Syria and Iraq. Vot Tak, a Russian-language project of Belsat Television, gathered the most essential information about the attack.

Information about the terrorist attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters began to appear on social networks after 4 pm local time. The published footage shows smoke and gunfire in front of the building's entrance. Later, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya tweeted about the dead and wounded. Shortly thereafter, new footage of the terrorist attack was published online. You can see on them that at least two attackers - a woman and a man armed with AK-74 carbines - took part in the attack. The man managed to get inside the complex. Photographs show the aftermath of an unspecified explosion in front of the entrance.

According to Reuters, a suicide bomber may have blown himself up. The media reported ten dead. In turn, the head of the Turkish Interior Ministry stated that three people were killed and 14 wounded. Later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - who was hosting the BRICS summit in Russia - reported four casualties. Vladimir Putin conveyed his sympathies. Eventually, the Turkish leader aborted his visit to Kazan and returned to the country, Sabah newspaper reported. Thousands of workers may have been at the plant during the attack. Witnesses told Reuters that great-grandchildren were brought to shelters and were not allowed to leave. According to them, the explosion may have occurred in front of several entrances to the complex while they were knocking out shifts of workers.

Initially, no terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack. However, the Turkish authorities believe the Kurdistan Workers' Party is behind it. As a result, Turkish troops carried out a strike against PPK facilities in Syria and Iraq. At around 6 p.m., Turkish media regulator RTÜK banned the publication of information regarding the terrorist attack "to prevent the spread of unverified information and panic."

The storming of the facilities by Turkish special forces began with a helicopter landing. Hours after the attack, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya relayed that two terrorists had been eliminated and their identities were being determined. Eventually, the number of dead rose to 5 people and the number of wounded to 22, of which 19 needed hospitalization.

Attack on Ukraine's partner

Turkish Aerospace Industries is one of the key companies in Turkey's arms industry. Among other things, it produces Turkey's fifth-generation Kaan fighter aircraft, civilian and combat helicopters, drones (Aksungur, Anka), and satellites.

The company works closely with Ukrainian armaments plants. Among other things, engines for Turkish ATAK-2 heavy-lift attack helicopters, T925 multi-role helicopters, and Anka-3 combat drones are made in Ukraine at Zaporizhia's Motor Sich plant. With the front line of the war with Russia running dozens of kilometers from Zaporizhzhya, the Turkish company is considering the possibility of moving production to its country, based on Ukrainian licenses.

Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have repeatedly bombed Motor Sich plants. By doing so, Moscow signaled Ankara that it does not accept Turkish-Ukrainian arms cooperation.

Nevertheless, in the early stages of the conflict, Turkey was a significant supplier of armaments to Kyiv. The icon of the first months of fighting became the Turkish Bayraktar BT-2 drones but produced by Baykar Makina, not Turkish Aerospace Industries.

Ivan Lysyuk/vot-tak.tv, pj/belsat.eu