2023 Ankara bombing

On the morning of 1 October 2023, at around 09:30 local time, a light commercial vehicle carrying two men arrived in front of the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of the Interior Ministry on Atatürk Boulevard in Ankara, Turkey. According to the Wikipedia account of the incident, one attacker threw a small explosive device toward the building, apparently to distract security personnel, while his companion opened fire on guards at the compound's gate before detonating a bomb strapped to his body, killing himself. The first attacker then attempted to rush the compound but was shot dead by police before he could detonate his own explosive.

The blast produced large flames and was reportedly heard several kilometers away. Security footage indicated that a guard tower at the gate was damaged. Two police officers were injured: one was shot in the chest and another suffered shrapnel injuries to both legs and an eye. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said neither officer's injuries were life-threatening.

Turkish media reported that before arriving in Ankara, the attackers had hijacked the vehicle used in the attack in Kayseri, roughly 260 kilometers southeast of Ankara, killing its 24-year-old driver, a veterinarian, and dumping his body in a ditch. On 4 October, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that the attackers had come from Syria and had trained there.

In the aftermath, police conducted at least two controlled explosions after suspicious packages were found in the area, and investigators recovered a rocket launcher, four guns, three hand grenades, and C-4 explosives near the attackers' vehicle. The Ankara prosecutor's office opened an investigation and closed off the area to media coverage.

The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claimed responsibility for the bombing, attributing it to its "Immortal Brigade." The attack occurred hours before the Grand National Assembly of Turkey opened its autumn session; President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the body afterward, calling the attack "the last stand of terrorism." Opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also condemned the bombing as a terrorist attack.

Following the PKK's claim, the Turkish military launched airstrikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq and northern Syria over subsequent days, and Turkish police conducted raids across 64 provinces, detaining more than 900 people in connection with illegal weapons and PKK membership suspicions. This was reported as the first attack to strike the Turkish capital since a March 2016 bombing claimed by another separatist Kurdish group.