TURKEY struck suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq for a second day today following an attack on the premises of a key defence company which killed at least five people, the state-run news agency reported.

The National Intelligence Organisation targeted what were described as “strategic locations” used by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) or by the Syrian Kurdish militias that are affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported. 

The targets included military, intelligence, energy and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, the report said. A security official said that armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out air strikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hours after government officials blamed the deadly attack at the headquarters of the aerospace and defence company TUSAS on the PKK. 

More than 30 targets were destroyed in the aerial offensive, the Defence Ministry said.

The assailants, a man and a woman, arrived at the TUSAS premises in the outskirts of Ankara in a taxi they commandeered after killing its driver, reports said. 

Armed with assault rifles, they set off explosives and opened fire, killing four people at TUSAS, including a security personnel and a mechanical engineer.

Security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at 3.30pm, the interior minister said. The two assailants were also killed and more than 20 people were injured in the attack.

There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish air strikes.

In Syria, the main United States-backed force said that Turkish strikes in the north of the country had killed 12 civilians and wounded 25.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said that Turkish warplanes and drones struck bakeries, power stations, oil facilities and local police checkpoints.

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defence industry and space systems.