Turkiye said on Wednesday that two suspected Kurdish militants who died while staging a weekend attack in Ankara had been trained in Syria.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkiye now reserved the right to strike a broader range of Kurdish targets in both Syria and Iraq in retaliation for Sunday’s attack.

Turkish police shot dead one of the assailants while the other died in an apparent suicide blast outside Turkiye’s interior ministry. Two policemen were injured in the incident.

“As a result of the work of our security forces, it has become clear that the two terrorists came from Syria and were trained there,” Fidan said in televised comments.

“From now on, all infrastructure, large facilities and energy facilities belonging to (armed Kurdish groups) in Iraq and Syria are legitimate targets for our security forces.”

A branch of the Kurdish PKK militia — listed as a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies — claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, the first in Ankara since 2016.

Turkiye conducted air raids against PKK targets in Iraq hours later.

Fidan’s comments suggest that Turkiye could expand its air strikes to include war-torn Syria.

Syria’s Kurds have carved out a semi-autonomous area in the country’s north and east.

US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — the Kurds’ de facto army in the area — led the battle that dislodged Islamic State group fighters from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.

But Turkiye views the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that dominate the SDF as an offshoot of the PKK.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to expand attacks against the YPG.

Opinion

Editorial

Agriculture tax
Updated 16 Nov, 2024

Agriculture tax

Amendments made in Punjab's agri income tax law are crucial to make the system equitable.
Genocidal violence
16 Nov, 2024

Genocidal violence

A RECENTLY released UN report confirms what many around the world already know: that Israel has been using genocidal...
Breathless Punjab
16 Nov, 2024

Breathless Punjab

PUNJAB’s smog crisis has effectively spiralled out of control, with air quality readings shattering all past...
Last call
Updated 15 Nov, 2024

Last call

PTI should hardly be turning its "final" protest into a "do or die" occasion.
Mini budget talk
15 Nov, 2024

Mini budget talk

NO matter how much Pakistan’s finance managers try to downplay the prospect of a ‘mini budget’ to pull off a...
Diabetes challenge
15 Nov, 2024

Diabetes challenge

AMONGST the many public health challenges confronting Pakistan, diabetes arguably does not get the attention it...