Tuesday 28 June 2016

Istanbul Ataturk airport attack: 32 dead and dozens injured

A suicide gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's main airport, one of Europe's busiest, has killed at lest 32 people and injured 60 more.
Three attackers were involved, with one reportedly firing a Kalashnikov as they targeted an entry point to Ataturk international airport.
Recent bombings in Turkey have been linked to either Kurdish separatists or the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.
This looks like a major co-ordinated assault, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports.
Ataturk airport was long seen as a vulnerable target, our Turkey correspondent adds, reporting from a plane stuck on the tarmac in Istanbul.
There are X-ray scanners at the entry to the terminal but security checks for cars are limited.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack, calling for a "joint fight" against terrorism.
Flights in and out of the airport were suspended after the attack.
The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights between the US and Istanbul, Reuters reports.
People walk away from Istanbul Ataturk airportImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionTerrified passengers were seen leaving the airport on foot
A Kalashnikov assault rifle is seen on the floor at Ataturk airportImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionA Kalashnikov assault rifle was later found at the scene of the attack
Ambulances arrive at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast June 28, 2016Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionAmbulances flocked to the airport after the explosion
Taxis were used to rush casualties to hospital after the attack.
Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.
"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Mr Roos told the Associated Press news agency.
"There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a handgun."
Charles Michel, the Prime Minister of Belgium whose capital city was targeted by bombers in Marchtweeted from the EU summit in Brussels: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence."
In December, a blast on the tarmac at a different Istanbul airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a cleaner. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK).

Major recent attacks

2016
7 June, Istanbul: Car bomb kills seven police officers and four civilians. Claimed by Kurdish militant group TAK
19 March, Istanbul: Suicide bomb kills four people in shopping street. IS blamed.
13 March, Ankara: Car bomb kills 34. Claimed by TAK.
17 February, Ankara: 29 killed in attack on military busses. Claimed by TAK
12 January, Istanbul: 11 Germans killed by Syrian bomber in tourist area
2015
23 December, Istanbul: Bomb kills cleaner at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. Claimed by TAK
10 October, Ankara: More than 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station. Claimed by IS
20 July, Suruc, near Syrian border: 34 people killed in bombing in Kurdish town. IS blamed

Security concerns and a Russian boycott over last year's downing of a Russian military jet on the Turkey-Syria border have hit the Turkish tourist sector this year.
More than 61 million passengers travelled through Ataturk airport in 2015.
A US state department travel warning for Turkey, originally published in March and updated on Monday, urges US citizens to "exercise heightened vigilance and caution when visiting public access areas, especially those heavily frequented by tourists."

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