A huge explosion outside the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) near Ankara left a number of people “dead and injured”, Turkey’s interior minister said Wednesday, describing it as a “terrorist attack”.

“A terrorist attack was carried out against the Turkish Aerospace Industries… Unfortunately, we have martyrs and injured people,” Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, using a term often used for the deaths of soldiers or police.

Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayii AŞ. (TUSAŞ) Ankara Kahramankazan tesislerine yönelik terör saldırısı gerçekleştirilmiştir.

Saldırı sonrası maalesef şehit ve yaralılarımız bulunmaktadır.

Şehitlerimize Allah’tan rahmet; yaralılarımıza acil şifalar diliyorum.

Gelişmelerden kamuoyu…

— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) October 23, 2024

Footage from the scene broadcast by local media initially showed huge clouds of smoke and a large fire raging at the site in Kahramankazan, a small town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara.

Haberturk TV said there was an ongoing “hostage situation” without giving further details, while the private NTV television spoke of gunshots after the blast which took place around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).

There was no immediate claim for the attack.

The blast occurred as a major trade fair for the defence and aerospace industries was taking place in Istanbul which was visited this week by Ukraine’s top diplomat.

Turkey’s defence sector, which is widely known for its Bayraktar drones, accounts for nearly 80 percent of the nation’s export revenues with revenues expected to top 10.2 billion dollars in 2023.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Shiv Sena faction of Uddhav Thackeray released a name of 65 candidates this evening, declaring that the seat-sharing for Maharashtra has been finalised. The contentious exercise had concluded after weeks of hectic discussions. The conclusion, Shiv Sena had said, was each of the three key allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi – the Sena UBT, Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) will contest 85 seats. This will take the total to 255 – the rest of the state’s 288 seats, 33, will go to the smaller allies of the MVA.  

At the press conference held this evening Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut and Congress’s Nana Patole made the announcement – but the math left something more to be desired.

“Sharad Pawar told us to go to the media and tell them that we have finalised the 85-85-85 formula. That leaves us with 270. Then the rest of the 18 seats will be given to the friends,” Sanjay Raut said. Nana Pat9ole repeated the same message in Hindi.
 
Later, when it was pointed out that the 85 formula adds up to 255, Sena’s Anil Desai improvised: “We have to prepare for filling the form and AB form has to be given, so an agreement has been made on 85-85-85. The rest will be given to small friendly parties after some discussion. Whatever remains will be divided among us”.

The MVA allies, after a 6-plus-hour meet yesterday that ran past midnight, had resumed this morning, with veteran leader Sharad Pawar mediating between the Congress and Shiv Sena UBT, which had hit a deadlock over a handful of seats in Mumbai, Nashik and Vidarbha.
 

An explosion near Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) headquarters in Kahramankazan, north of Ankara, has resulted in casualties. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya labeled the incident a ‘terrorist attack.’ Reports indicate a possible hostage situation following the blast. No group has claimed responsibility yet.