Turkey bombed Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq after terrorist attack on Ankara

The Turkish air force bombed some 30 Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq following a terrorist attack on a defense company near Ankara, the capital of Turkey.

Turkey's Defense Ministry told state media that 32 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets were destroyed during the retaliatory attack and that air operations are ongoing.

The Turkish Defense Ministry also stated that Turkish forces would "continue the fight against terrorism with determination and resolve until not a single terrorist remains."

According to the ministry, Turkish air forces took the necessary measures to ensure that the attacks did not affect civilians.

The Turkish attack comes after a man and a woman detonated explosives and opened fire on the TUSAS aerospace and defense company, in what was labeled by Turkey as a terrorist attack condemned by the United States and Turkey's Western allies.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya had previously said that the attack was likely carried out by Kurdish PKK militants

Defense Minister Yasar Guler also took aim at the PKK.

"We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses," Guler said. "We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated."

The terrorist attack left five dead and 22 injured.

TUSAS, the aerospace company that was attacked, designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other Turkish space and defense industry systems.

TUSAS has been a technological and military linchpin for Turkey to gain the upper hand in the conflict with Kurdish militants, which dates back to the 1980s and has killed tens of thousands of people.

PKK claims responsibility for the attack

The Kurdistan Workers' Party acknowledged responsibility for the attack hours after the Turkish military response.

The operation had been "planned for a long time," the PKK said, according to AFP. The aim of the attack, the group stressed, was to send "warnings and messages against the genocidal practices, massacres and isolationist practices of the Turkish government".

"We know that weapons produced by TAI have massacred thousands of our civilians in Kurdistan, including children and women," continued the movement, which arrogates to itself the "legitimate right" to attack "the centers where these weapons of mass murder are produced."