Türkiye carried out more airstrikes against PKK/YPG terrorists across northern Iraq and Syria, hitting dozens of targets for the second night in a row, the Defense Ministry announced early Friday.
Turkish jets struck 34 PKK targets and a "significant number" of terrorists have been eliminated in an air operation conducted in northern Iraq, the ministry said.
The airstrikes were carried out at 11.30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. GMT) Thursday targeting terrorist positions in the Hakurk, Gara, Qandil and Sinjar regions of northern Iraq.
It said the operation was conducted under the right of legitimate self-defense as outlined in Article 51 of the U.N. Charter with the aim of neutralizing PKK/KCK and other terrorist elements, preventing attacks on civilians and security forces and securing Türkiye's borders.
"During the operation, 34 targets including caves, shelters, hideouts, depots and facilities used by the Separatist Terrorist Organization (BTO) were destroyed. It is believed that some high-ranking terrorists were also present at these locations," the statement said.
The ministry emphasized that the operation used a significant amount of domestically produced munitions.
Security sources said separately that Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) had hit a total of 120 PKK targets in Iraq and Syria since the attack in Ankara.
The operations followed a terrorist attack on the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in Ankara's Kahramankazan district on Wednesday, which drew condemnations from world leaders and NATO allies alike expressing shock and solidarity with the people of Türkiye.
PKK claims attack
Türkiye said it had proof that PKK terrorists were behind the deadly attack that claimed the lives of five people who were laid to rest Thursday after an emotional farewell.
After government ministers said they were "very likely" responsible, the military pounded PKK targets in Syria and Iraq overnight in raids that have continued since Wednesday.
And on Thursday investigators confirmed that both attackers, a man and a woman, were "PKK terrorists," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X.
Both appeared in CCTV images posted on X in which they are seen emerging from a taxi and then firing assault rifles before entering the TAI building.
The PKK on Friday claimed the attack.
"The act of sacrifice at TAI campus in Ankara at around 15:30 local time on Wednesday was carried out by a team of the immortals battalion" of the PKK, it said on Telegram.
After flying in from Russia where he had attended the BRICS summit of major emerging economy nations, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chaired a security meeting at Istanbul's old Atatürk Airport.
There he was briefed by top diplomat Hakan Fidan, spy chief Ibrahim Kalın, the defense and interior ministers, the army chief, the head of Türkiye's state Defense Industry Agency and top officials from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
After a day in which the victims were laid to rest following mournful ceremonies, many attended by government representatives, Türkiye appeared to be planning a tough response.
With 14 of the 22 wounded still in the hospital, security measures were stepped up at Istanbul's two international airports.
Signs of new process
The attack struck amid growing signs of a political thaw between Ankara and the PKK to end terrorism.
Just hours before the attack, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been jailed on a Turkish prison island in solitary confinement since 1999, received his first family visit in years.
"If the conditions are right, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the level of conflict and violence to a political and legal level," Öcalan was quoted as saying by Ömer Öcalan, a member of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and Öcalan's nephew.
Öcalan’s response came shortly after Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), ally to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), pitched the possible release of Öcalan who could "come to Parliament and make a speech" should he announce that the PKK would lay down arms.
While Bahçeli’s cryptic call has had mixed responses, pundits have said this could be a sign of the possible beginning of a new process between the Turkish government and the PKK, which has been waging its bloody terror campaign since the 1980s.
The latest attempt at talks failed in 2015 when the PKK resumed its attacks in the southeast during negotiations.