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Turkey blames IS for airport attack that leaves 41 dead

ISTANBUL — Three suicide attackers killed at least 41 people and wounded dozens more at Istanbul’s main airport yesterday morning, in the latest string of terrorist attacks in Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally once seen as a bastion of stability but now increasingly consumed by the chaos of the Middle East.

Victims lying on the ground after three suicide attackers opened fire and set off explosives at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that the bombing came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and called for global unity in the fight against terrorism. Photo: AFP

Victims lying on the ground after three suicide attackers opened fire and set off explosives at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that the bombing came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and called for global unity in the fight against terrorism. Photo: AFP

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ISTANBUL — Three suicide attackers killed at least 41 people and wounded dozens more at Istanbul’s main airport yesterday morning, in the latest string of terrorist attacks in Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally once seen as a bastion of stability but now increasingly consumed by the chaos of the Middle East.

Hours after the assault, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that early indications pointed to an operation carried out by the Islamic State (IS), but the militant group had not claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack began shortly before 10pm on Tuesday (Turkey time), officials said, when two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at a security checkpoint outside Ataturk airport, one of Europe’s busiest. They then detonated explosives, setting off two fireballs. A third attacker set off explosives in the parking lot.

Turkey has faced a string of terrorist attacks over the past year, including several in Istanbul, as it confronts threats from both IS and Kurdish militants fighting a war with the Turkish state in the south-east.

The Istanbul governor’s office said that 41 people had died. More than 200 people have reportedly been wounded.

Most of the dead were Turks, although some were foreigners, Mr Yildirim said. Among the victims were five Saudis, two Iraqis and one citizen each from China, Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, said a Turkish official. The three attackers were killed when they detonated their explosives, the Prime Minister added.

Outside the terminal on Tuesday night local time, as calls went out on local news channels for blood donors and the Turkish authorities imposed a ban on publishing images of the scene of the attack, ambulances streamed in, while hundreds of dazed and scared travellers sat on the sidewalk waiting for information. And more travellers, many in tears, were streaming out of the airport.

“There were blood splatters everywhere,” said Ms Eylul Kaya, 37, sitting outside with her one-year-old son. “I covered my boy’s eyes and we ran out.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that the bombing came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and he called for global unity in the fight against terrorism.

The country has recently been hit by a string of terrorist attacks. On June 6, a car bomb destroyed a police vehicle near an Istanbul tourist district, killing 11 people and wounding dozens more. Earlier in March, a suicide bomber struck a main avenue in Istanbul, killing at least four, including two Americans. Turkey said IS carried out the attack.

“Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end,” said Mr Erdogan in a statement.

Mr Erdogan added: “The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world. Make no mistake: For terrorist organisations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago, or Antalya and Rome.”

Turkey has held itself up as an exemplar of a Muslim democracy and has sought to influence the region by reaching out to its Muslim neighbours. When Syria slipped into civil war in 2011, Turkey pushed for the ouster of President Bashar Assad and began helping Syrian rebel groups, allowing the transit of fighters and weapons across its territory.

But Turkey’s Western allies, including the United States, have blamed the country’s open-border policy for allowing extremist groups like the IS to become powerful inside Syria, and the chaos has increasingly spilled over into Turkey, with terrorist attacks and waves of refugees.

The attack on Tuesday evoked the bombing of the Brussels airport several months ago and highlighted the conundrum security officials face in minimising casualties from terrorist attacks: Airports have become soft targets.

Ms Judith Favish, a South African, said she was at the counter checking in for her flight when she heard gunfire and then an explosion.

“So I jumped across and hid under the counter and then someone told us to run, so I ran and hid in a cafeteria,” she said, standing outside the terminal. “We waited there for an hour and then we were told to get out, but no one has given us any information. I have no clothes, phone, money, nothing. Haven’t called my family. No one is telling me anything.”

The airport, the third busiest in Europe and the 11th busiest in the world, was closed after the attack, but was later reopened.

Almost immediately after the attack, there was speculation that it might have been a response by the IS to the recent reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, which announced a wide-ranging deal this week to restore diplomatic relations. The two countries had been estranged for six years, after an episode in 2010 in which Israeli commandos stormed a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli blockade; several Turkish activists were killed.

When the attack happened, Ms Asli Aydintasbas, an analyst and writer on Turkish affairs, was on a plane bound for Istanbul but was rerouted to Ankara, where the airport was filled with stranded and confused tourists, repeatedly checking with airport workers that they had in fact landed elsewhere.

“Our world is turned upside down,” said Ms Aydintasbas. AGENCIES

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