Terrorism41 killed, 239 injured in three suicide explosions at Istanbul Atatürk airport

Published 29 June 2016

Turkish authorities say that forty-one people have been killed and 239injured in a terrorist attack on Turkey’s largest airport, Istanbul Atatürk. The airport is Europe’s third busiest airport. The Turkish Ministry of Justice said that two terrorists blew themselves up outside the security checkpoint at the entry to the international terminal. A third terrorist blew himself up in the terminal’s parking lot. Recent months have seen an increase in terrorist attacks against Turkish civilians. These attacks have been carried out by both ISIS Islamists and PKK Kurdish separatists.

Interior of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Turkish authorities say that forty-one people have been killed and 239injured in a terrorist attack on Turkey’s largest airport, Istanbul Atatürk. The airport is Europe’s third busiest airport, following London’s Heathrow and the Charles De Gaulle in Paris.

Most of those killed were Turkish citizens, but 13 were foreign nationals. Five were from Saudi Arabia, two from Iraq, and one each from Tunisia, Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Ukraine and Jordan.

The Turkish Ministry of Justice said that two terrorists blew themselves up outside the security checkpoint at the entry to the international terminal. A third terrorist blew himself up in the terminal’s parking lot. Police officers at the checkpoint were fired upon from a close range by one or two persons, and returned fire – but the two men blew themselves up.

No terrorist groups has claimed responsibility for the massacre, but 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 [ISIS] 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.”

A spokesperson for the Istanbul police told the Guardian that “a bomb exploded at the airport and there are many casualties,” adding that the exact number is not yet known.

Justice minister Bekir Bozdağ told parliament in Ankara that preliminary reports suggested that at least ten people were killed in the attack.

The Telegraph quotes a police spokesperson to say that one person, “maybe a terrorist,” opened fire at police guarding the outside of the airport in order to force access to the international terminal, but when the police returned fire, he detonating a bomb, “maybe a suicide bomb.”

State-run TRT television reported that the explosion hit a control point at the international terminal of the airport.

The airport police said that the attackers used AK-47 assault rifles in their initial attack. A picture of what appears to be an AK-47 rifle on the floor was being circulated on social media.

Police blocked all entry points to the airport and evacuated the international terminal. Some flights have been diverted away from Istanbul.

Recent months have seen an increase in terrorist attacks against Turkish civilians. These attacks have been carried out by both ISIS Islamists and PKK Kurdish separatists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the attacks and urged Western countries to take a stronger stance against terrorism.

The attack showed “the dark face of terror that targets innocent civilians,” he said. “This attack does not produce any results, it aims to produce propaganda against our country using the blood and pain of innocent people.

“Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end. Today’s attack targeted 79 million Turkish citizens along with 7.5 billion human beings around the world. The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around 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.

“Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago, or Antalya and Rome. 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.”