Three suicide bombers attacked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport on Tuesday with gunfire and explosions, killing 41 people and injuring around 150 after Police confronted the assailants at one of the entrances toward the high-security and one of the world’s busiest airport terminals.
No group claimed responsibility within first few hours of the attack but Turkey has been rocked by a string of bombings this summer carried out by both the ISIS terror outfit and a splinter group of PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Two attackers targeted the pathway to the security checkpoint, while the third assailant detonated himself in the Parking lot.
Images and videos of the attacks posted on the social media showed an attacker blowing himself up after being shot at. A second detonation inside a building caused a huge explosion, chaos and a flood of light, resulting in death, destruction, and panic among survivors.
The CNN, quoting unnamed U.S. officials, reported that Tuesday’s attack on the Istanbul airport bore marks of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group. Turkish officials also suggested that the deadly bombing looked like an ISIS attack.
Condemning the attack, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack “revealed the dark face of terror organizations targeting innocent civilians.”
“I hope the attack at the Ataturk airport will be a turning point in the world, and primarily for the Western states, for a joint struggle against terror organizations,”Mr. Erdogan said, adding that the attack
Security and counterterrorism analysts searched for clues to as to who might have carried out the attacks but the bombings took place as Ankara has stepped up its fight against terror groups.
Tuesday’s coordinated attacks hit Istanbul in the wake of an agreement between Turkey and Israel on resuming their bilateral relations, truncated by Israeli killing of 10 Turkish activists in 2010. The Turkish activists were part of a flotilla trying to ship humanitarian aid to Palestinian residents of Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel.
The story has been updated Wednesday morning.
