Ataturk airport jolted by blasts as suicide bombers kill 36

Three suicide bombers first opened fire and then blew themselves up at Istanbul’s busiest airport on Tuesday night, killing 36 people and injuring close to 150 others. The attack took place at Ataturk International Airport at around 9:30 PM local time, when a lot of people were present there waiting for their flights.

According to the details provided by eye witnesses, there were three attackers in total. One of the attackers opened fire in the departure hall with an automatic rifle, prompting the people around to run for cover. Police tried to stop two of the suicide bombers, who blew themselves up before reaching a security checkpoint at the arrivals section. Eventually all three bombers blew themselves up, causing a number of casualties and massive damage to the building.

So far, a total of 36 people have been reported dead, while 150 others have been injured. The dead mostly include Turkish nationals, but there were some foreigners who died as well.

Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yildirim told reporters that according to the initial evidence, it appears that the attack had been carried out by Daesh (Islamic State) militants. He further added; “This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act.”

“There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire,” he told reporters at the airport.

Turkey is part of US-led coalition against Daesh and at the same time it is trying to contain the spillover of refugees from neighboring Syria’s civil war. The country is also struggling with insurgency by Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Jun 29 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.