Türkiye attacks in Syria and Iraq after attack on defense contractor near Ankara | turkey

Turkey has launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq after blaming the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for a deadly attack on the headquarters of Turkey's national aerospace company on Wednesday that killed five people .

Turkey's National Intelligence Service said it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the PKK or Syrian Kurdish militias allied with the militants, Anadolu news agency reported.

There was no immediate comment from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.

Targets included military, intelligence, energy and infrastructure facilities, as well as ammunition depots, the report said. A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday's attacks.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Thursday that 12 civilians had been killed in Turkish airstrikes in northeastern Syria.

“In recent hours… there has been a new wave of (Turkish) attacks on northern and eastern Syria,” killing 12 civilians, including two children, and wounding 25 others, the U.S.-backed group said in a statement SDF.

“In addition to populated areas, Turkish warplanes and UAVs (drones) targeted bakeries, power plants, oil facilities and checkpoints of the (Kurdish) Internal Security Forces,” added the statement, which also reported Turkish shelling.

On Wednesday, the Turkish Air Force carried out strikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hours after Turkish government officials blamed the PKK for the deadly attack on the headquarters of the Tusaş aerospace and defense company near Ankara.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said more than 30 targets were destroyed in the air offensive.

According to reports, the attack on Tusaş occurred when two attackers – a man and a woman – arrived at the company's headquarters in a taxi that they had commandeered after killing its driver.

Armed with assault rifles, the two detonated explosive devices and opened fire, killing four people at the company, including a security staff member and a mechanical engineer.

Security forces were dispatched immediately after the attack began at around 3:30 p.m. local time, the interior minister said. The attack also killed the two attackers and injured more than 20 people.

Tusaş designs, manufactures and assembles civil and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other defense industrial and space systems. Its defense systems are considered crucial to Turkey gaining the upper hand in the fight against Kurdish militants.

The attack came a day after the head of a far-right nationalist party allied to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, raised the possibility that the jailed PKK leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization .

Abdullah Öcalan's PKK is fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey in a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s. It is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey and the country's Western allies.

The Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report