An American researcher said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a building that was part of Iran's defunct nuclear weapons development program, and he and another researcher said facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles also were struck, Reuters reported.

The assessments based on commercial satellite imagery were reached separately by David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector, and Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a Washington think tank.

They told Reuters that Israel struck buildings in Parchin, a massive military complex near Tehran. Israel also hit Khojir, according to Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.

Reuters reported in July that Khojir was undergoing massive expansion.

Eveleth said the Israeli strikes may have "significantly hampered Iran's ability to mass produce missiles."

The Israeli military said three waves of Israeli jets struck missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran early on Saturday in retaliation for Tehran's Oct. 1 barrage of more than 200 missiles against Israel, read the report.

Iran's military said the Israeli warplanes used "very light warheads" to strike border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.

In posts on X, Albright said commercial satellite imagery showed that Israel hit a building in Parchin called Taleghan 2 that was used for testing activities during the Amad Plan, Iran's defunct nuclear weapons development program.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and U.S. intelligence say Iran shuttered the program in 2003. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons.

Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security research group, was given access to the program's files for a book after they were stolen from Tehran by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency in 2018.

On X, he said the archives revealed that Iran kept important test equipment in Taleghan 2.

Iran may have removed key materials before the airstrike, he said, but "even if no equipment remained inside" the building would have provided "intrinsic value" for future nuclear weapons-related activities, Reuters reported.

Albright told Reuters that commercial satellite imagery of Parchin showed Israel damaged three buildings about 350 yards (320 m) from Taleghan 2, including two in which solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.

He did not identify the commercial firm from which he obtained the images.

Eveleth said an image of Parchin from Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, showed that Israel destroyed three ballistic missile solid fuel mixing buildings and a warehouse in the sprawling complex.

Planet Labs imagery also showed that an Israeli strike destroyed two buildings in the Khojir complex where solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed, he said.

The buildings were enclosed by high dirt berms, according to the image reviewed by Reuters. Such structures are associated with missile production and are designed to stop a blast in one building from detonating combustible materials in nearby structures, Reuters reported.

"Israel says they targeted buildings housing solid-fuel mixers," Eveleth said. "These industrial mixers are hard to make and export-controlled. Iran imported many over the years at great expense, and will likely have a hard time replacing them."

With a limited operation, he said, Israel may have struck a significant blow against Iran's ability to mass-produce missiles and made it more difficult for any future Iranian missile attack to pierce Israel's missile defenses.

"The strikes appear to be highly accurate," he said.

Axios reported that Israel destroyed hit 12 "planetary mixers" used to produce solid fuel for long-range ballistic missiles, quoting three unnamed Israeli sources as saying this severely damages Iran's ability to renew its missile stockpile and could deter Iran from further massive missile strikes against Israel.

Iran has the Middle East's largest missile arsenal and supplied missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, and to Yemen's Houthi rebels and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, according to U.S. officials.

Tehran and Moscow deny that Russia has received Iranian missiles.

Planet Labs imagery reviewed earlier this year by Eveleth and Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey showed major expansions at Khojir and the Modarres military complex near Tehran that the pair assessed were for boosting missile production, Reuters reported.

Three senior Iranian officials confirmed that conclusion.

At least 10 Pakistani security personnel were killed in a militant attack on an outpost near the northwest city of Dera Ismail Khan late on Thursday, Reuters reported citing police sources.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, the group said in a statement.

Two attackers killed five people and wounded 22 others on Wednesday in what Ankara called a terrorist attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters, where witnesses said they heard gunfire and an explosion, Reuters reported.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said both attackers were killed after the attack, adding two of the injured are in critical condition. TV broadcasters showed footage of armed assailants entering the TUSAS building near Ankara.

"Two terrorists were neutralised in the terror attack on the TUSAS Ankara Kahramankazan site," Yerlikaya said.

"Sadly, we have five martyrs and 22 wounded in the attack. Three of the injured were already discharged from hospital, 19 of them under treatment," he said.

Yerlikaya said the perpetrators were "highly likely" members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"The style of the act shows that it is highly likely the PKK that carried out the attack. Once identification is completed and other evidence become clearer, we will share more concrete information with you," he said.

Turkish air forces conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq and northern Syria and destroyed 32 PKK targets, the defence ministry said late on Wednesday, adding that many PKK members were killed, read the report.

Prosecutors have launched an investigation, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, alongside Russia's Vladimir Putin at a BRICS conference in the Russian city of Kazan, condemned the attack and accepted Putin's condolences. NATO, the United States and the European Union also condemned the attack.

Witnesses told Reuters that employees inside the building had been taken to shelters by the authorities and no one had been permitted to leave for a few hours. They said the blasts they heard may have taken place at different exits as employees were leaving work for the day.

Witnesses later said evacuation of personnel from the TUSAS campus had started and buses were allowed to leave as the operation had ended, Reuters reported.

Broadcasters showed images of a damaged gate and footage of an exchange of gunfire in a parking lot, as well as the two attackers carrying assault rifles and backpacks as they entered the building. Ambulances and helicopters later arrived.

TUSAS is Turkey's largest aerospace manufacturer, currently producing a training craft, combat and civilian helicopters, as well as developing the country's first indigenous fighter jet, KAAN. Owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation and the government, it employs more than 10,000 people.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte condemned the attack and said the military alliance would stand with its ally Turkey.