At Least 36 Killed in Suicide Bombings at Istanbul Airport

Officials believe ISIS is behind the attack
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 28, 2016 4:05 PM CDT
Updated Jun 29, 2016 12:08 AM CDT
Blasts at Istanbul Airport Kill at Least 10 People
Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday after explosions killed at least 31 people.   (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Several suicide bombers have hit Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding more than 140, Istanbul's governor and other officials said Tuesday. The attack is being linked to ISIS. Turkey's NTV television quoted Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin as saying three suicide bombers carried out the attack, the AP reports. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, speaking to reporters at the airport, said the attackers arrived 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. Another Turkish official said two 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.

Hundreds of passengers were spilling out of the airport with their suitcases in hand or stacked onto trolleys following the blasts. Others were sitting on the grass, their bodies lit by the flashing lights of ambulances and police cars. "We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," a South African tourist said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun." Police officers were reported among the wounded. Yildirim said all initial indications suggested ISIS was behind the attacks, which were the latest of several bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. (More Istanbul stories.)

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