PKK Claims Ankara Attack, Erdogan Says Perpetrators Infiltrated from Syria

Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
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PKK Claims Ankara Attack, Erdogan Says Perpetrators Infiltrated from Syria

Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Friday claimed responsibility for this week's attack on Turkish defense company TUSAS that killed five people in Ankara, it said in a statement.

Two assailants - a man and a woman - carried out Wednesday's assault with automatic rifles and explosives on the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) in Ankara. Twenty-two people were also wounded.

Both attackers were killed. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said later that they were confirmed to be PKK members.

The perpetrators of the attack infiltrated Türkiye from Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was cited as saying by broadcaster NTV and others on Friday.

Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Russia's Kazan, where he attended the BRICS summit, Erdogan vowed to eradicate terrorism at its source in Syria, adding that Türkiye would continue its battle against militants until the end.

Türkiye carried out airstrikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq overnight, hitting dozens of targets for the second night in a row, the Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The operation followed a security meeting that Erdogan chaired with key ministers and the armed forces and intelligence agency chiefs in Istanbul on Thursday evening.

Türkiye hit 34 PKK targets in Hakurk, Gara, Qandil and Sinjar in northern Iraq, destroying shelters, warehouses and other facilities, and "neutralizing" a large number of militants, the ministry said.

Security sources said separately that Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) had hit a total of 120 PKK targets in Iraq and Syria since the attack in Ankara.



Landslide and Flash Floods Hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Leaving 16 Dead and 6 Missing

Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
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Landslide and Flash Floods Hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Leaving 16 Dead and 6 Missing

Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Rescuers in Indonesia recovered 16 bodies under tons of mud and rocks or that were swept away in flash floods that hit mountainside villages on Sumatra Island, officials said Monday.
Six people are still missing, officials said.
Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down a mountain after torrential rains over the weekend and rivers burst their banks, tearing through four hilly districts in North Sumatra province, washing away houses and destroying farms.
Police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, farm equipment and their bare hands to sift through the rubble looking for the dead and missing in Semangat Gunung, a resort area in Karo district, said Juspri M. Nadeak, who heads the local disaster management agency.
Rescuers recovered six bodies after a landslide hit two houses and a cottage late Sunday, he said. Nine injured people managed to escape, he said. Rescuers on Monday were still searching for four missing people, including two children.
Rescuers on Sunday pulled two bodies from a river after flash floods swept away at least 10 houses and damaged about 150 houses and buildings in villages in South Tapanuli district, said Puput Mashuri, who heads the local disaster management agency.
Dozens of people were injured by the flash floods, which also destroyed more than 130 hectares (321 acres) of agricultural land and plantations.
Flash floods on Sunday left four people dead in Deli Serdang district and rescue workers on Monday were searching for two people who were swept away by flash floods and are still missing.
A landslide hit several houses in Harang Julu, a mountainside village in Padang Lawas district, said Mustari, the chief of the local search and rescue agency, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name.
Rescuers late Saturday pulled out the bodies of a four-member family, including two children, and rescued at least three injured people from the devastated village, he said.
Television reports showed relatives wailing as they watched rescuers pull mud-caked bodies from a room at a buried house in Harang Julu village.
Seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
Last December, 12 people were swept away to Lake Toba or buried under tons of mud after heavy rains triggered flash flood and landslide in mountainside villages in North Sumatra province. Only one of them was found dead and 11 others remain unaccounted for.
The 1,145-square-kilometer (440-square-mile) Lake Toba, formed out of an ancient super volcano, is a popular sightseeing destination on the island of Sumatra and an area the government aims to develop as a magnet for international tourists.