Istanbul airport attack: 36 dead after suicide bombers strike Ataturk International airport in Istanbul
Two explosions rocked Turkey’s largest
airport on Tuesday leaving at least 36 people dead and 147 others
injured. The death toll is expected to rise up to 50, one senior Turkish
official told the Associated Press.
Security guards exchanged gunfire with
two suspects carrying AK-47 rifles at 10pm on Tuesday before both
attackers detonated suicide bombs as they reached the first security
checkpoint at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul. A third assailant
detonated his explosives in the airport’s parking lot, Istanbul Governor
Vasip Şahin told several Turkish media outlets.
While no terrorist groups have claimed responsibility for the massacre, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said based on a preliminary investigation that “all signs point to Isis.”
“According to analyses by our security
forces, first indications point at Daesh as perpetrators,” Yildirim said
during a press conference at the airport. “What is noteworthy is that
this attack came at a time when our country is putting up a merciless
fight against separatist terrorism and recording significant success.”
One witness
told NBC News that he saw a police officer wrestle a suicide bomber to the ground before the assailant detonated his bomb.
After closing for several hours, the airport has reopened and flights
reaching the US have continued as planned. The Ataturk is the third
busiest European airport following London’s Heathrow and the Charles De
Gaulle in Paris.
The suspects were reportedly armed
with Kalashnikov assault rifles, and video footage showed people running
for cover inside the terminal building.
“The United States condemns in the strongest possible
terms today’s heinous terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk
International Airport in Turkey, which appears to have killed and
injured dozens,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a
statement.
“We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO
Ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the
world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism.”
The US State Department also announced that it is trying to determine if any Americans were killed on Tuesday night.
By late afternoon, both presumed US presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offered their condolences to the families of the victims.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the attacks and
urged Western countries to take a stronger stance against terrorism.
“The bombs that went off in Istanbul today could have gone off in any
city in the world, in any airport. I want everyone to understand that,
to the terrorists, there is no difference between Istanbul and London,
Ankara and Berline, Izmir and Chicago,” President Erdogan said in a
written statement.
“Unless we come together as all countries and as all people, and
fight against the terrorists together, all possibilities that we can’t
even dare think of right now will come true.”
www.istanbul airport.com
