Suspected IS attack kills dozens at Istanbul’s airport
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Turkish security officers gathered outside Istanbul’s Ataturk airport today. Two explosions rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, killing at least 10 people and wounding scores of others, Turkey’s justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official said two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An entrance of the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul after explosions today. Two explosions rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, killing at least 10 people and wounding around 20 others, Turkey’s justice minister and another official said Tuesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Turkish rescue services members help a wounded person outside Istanbul’s Ataturk airport today.
ISTANBUL » Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul’s Ataturk airport today, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 were dead and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded. Another senior government official told The Associated Press the death toll could climb much higher.
The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.
Yildirim said three suicide bombers were responsible for the attack and all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind it.
He said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.
The victims included some foreigners, he said, adding that many of the wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.
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Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.
The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol and cited interior ministry information, said none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminal’s entrance.
Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.
Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth. Hundreds of passengers were flooding out of the airport and others were sitting on the grass.
Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears from the shock.
“There was blood on the ground,” she told The Associated Press. “Everything was blown up to bits… if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us.”
South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.
She says she hid under the counter for some time.
Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.
Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.
“We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off,” Paul Roos said. “There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun.”
The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.
Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.
The bombings include two in Istanbul targeting tourists that authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group.
The attacks have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the economy, which relies heavily on tourism revenues.
Istanbul’s Ataturk airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.
The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.
26 responses to “Suspected IS attack kills dozens at Istanbul’s airport”
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Loretta Lynch: Our most effective response to terror is compassion, unity, and love.
GASP!!!! and I thought it couldn’t get any worse..or stupider! O woe is me O woe is me. O..the worst potus in American history.
Anyone who ranks Obama as worse than Nixon has absolutely no credibility.
The question on everyone’s mind: Did the assailants procure their suicide vests legally, and if so, how many background checks were performed?
Lagally? What? They sell “suicide vests” at Macy’s and Amazon.com?
“GEEAHT DAUM, If ol’ Donal’ was Presimahdent those pencil necks wouldn’t have tried nuthin’.”
Buddy, I hate to break it to you but geopolitics is a fairly complex arena. It takes more than slogans, platitudes, and tough talk by cranky old men who hide behind internet handles to come up with viable solutions.
Our response to religious people must be to attack their faith which is the root of the terror. Only people with (usually Islam) faith blow themselves up.
She does not live in the real world. Suicide warriors are dying for their beliefs and their God. Kamakazi pilots did the same thing during a WWII. She needs to read Robert Papes book Dying to Win. Need to cut them off from their beliefs and their God.
Hard to say yet which group this was. Kurds are fighting for independence and are USA allies.
It’s unfortunate that Turkey’s indigenous Kurds have started to use vehicle bombs and suicide bombs as a tactic. It really discredits their cause in the eyes of the world. Thank heavens the Iraqi Kurds have eschewed this type of attack.
With allies like that who needs enemies.
Must be kurds as turkey is hooked up with isis, right?
PKK for the most part hits military targets. Sounds like ISIS – multiple suicide bombers like they did at the Brussels airport.
Turkey is part of NATO. Highly unlikely.
Turkey is hooked up with ISIS?
What are you talking about? Why would you make this up?
Better there than here.
Muslims bombing other Muslims.
It’s coming.
I guess we can thank another religion for this one. At least the Catholic church doesn’t encourage bombs. The just have priests and bishops who molest innocent little boys.
Get over it.
You’re truly a piece of work..
Before You Put Your Camel to Bed
Jiggs McDonald, NHL Hall of Fame broadcaster speaking in Ontario, says: “I am truly perplexed that so many of my friends are against another mosque being built in Toronto. I think it should be the goal of every Canadian to be tolerant regardless of their religious beliefs. Thus the mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance.”
“That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque; thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, which would be gay, “The Turban Cowboy,” and the other, a topless bar, would be called “You Mecca Me Hot.”
“Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbecue pork restaurant, called “Iraq of Ribs.”
“Across the street there could be a lingerie store called “Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret,” with sexy mannequins in the window modeling the goods”, and on the other side a liquor store called “Morehammered.”
“All of this would encourage Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us.”
Yes we should promote tolerance, and you can do your part by passing this on. And if you are not laughing or smiling at this point… It is either past your bedtime, or its midnight at the oasis and time to put your camel to bed.
In fewer words: Islam is the end of freedom.
We must engage the enemy overseas before we end up fighting them right here at home. It’s hard to understand what Obama is waiting for. They know where Isis is, how many Nato allies must be attacked, how many more innocents must die before Obama will respond with overwhelming force?
He’s more worried about offending the muslims of the world than he is about stopping islamic inspired terrorism. Perhaps not the worst President in US history but he’s right up there at the top of the list.
Are you saying that Obama should send American troops to fight in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and maybe even Turkey and Pakistan? Send more American troops to Afghanistan?
Come on, when American troops were fighting in Iraq, most people in the U.S. was saying “bring the troops home” and “Let the Iraqis fight their own battle”, etc.
That is what forced our government leaders to pull troops from Iraq and will do the same in Afghanistan.
Best reason to stay home in PARADISE. To many crazy people in Europe and the Mid East