Turkey Arrests 13 After Airport Attack

One victim was trying to get son back from ISIS
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 30, 2016 5:14 AM CDT
Turkey Arrests 13 After Airport Attack
A worker wipes traces of blood from the wall of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.   (AP Photo/Omer Kuscu)

Police in Turkey have arrested at least 13 people, including three foreign nationals, in raids in Istanbul and around the country after Tuesday's devastating attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport. The death toll from the attack, which has been blamed on ISIS, has now risen to 42, with more than 230 injured, and the country has declared Thursday a day of national mourning. Authorities say the three suicide bombers opened fire after failing to get past airport security, the AP reports. "When the terrorists couldn't pass the regular security system, when they couldn't pass the scanners, police, and security controls, they returned and took their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says.

The Guardian reports that 23 Turks, including five police officers, several tour guides, and a taxi driver, have been identified among the dead. Six Saudis, two Iraqis, a Chinese citizen, a Ukrainian, and a Jordanian were also among those killed. Another victim was Brigadier General Fathi Bayoud, a Tunisian military doctor who had traveled to Turkey in an effort to bring home a son who had joined ISIS, Reuters reports. A security source says the son, who traveled to Syria with his girlfriend several months ago to join the militants, has now been detained by Turkish troops at the Syrian border. (More Turkey stories.)

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