Turkey is attacking Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq for the second day

ANKARA, Türkiye (AP) — Turkey struck for a second day Thursday on suspected targets of Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq Attack on the premises of an important defense company At least five people were killed, the state news agency reported.

The National Intelligence Organization targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or Syrian Kurdish militias allied with the militants, Anadolu News Agency reported. 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.

On Wednesday, the Turkish Air Force carried out airstrikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hours after government officials blamed the PKK for the deadly attack on the headquarters of the aerospace and defense company TUSAS. The Defense Ministry said more than 30 targets were destroyed in the air offensive.

The attackers – a man and a woman – reportedly arrived at the TUSAS compound on the outskirts of Ankara in a taxi that they seized after killing the driver. Armed with assault rifles, they detonated explosive devices and opened fire, killing four people at TUSAS, including a security guard and a mechanical engineer.

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

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

In Syria, the main U.S.-backed force said 12 civilians were killed and 25 injured in Turkish attacks in the north of the country.

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

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civil and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles 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 leader of Turkey's far-right Nationalist Party, which is allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raised the possibility that the PKK the imprisoned leader could be granted Probation if he renounces violence and dissolves his organization.

Abdullah Öcalan's group is fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

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Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed from Beirut.