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Suicide Bombers Kill 41, Injure 240 in Istanbul Airport

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Another deadly terror attack shook Turkey late Tuesday evening. Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up inside Turkey’s Atatürk airport in Istanbul, killing at least 41 people and injuring 239, according to the latest information from BBC.

The attackers reportedly arrived in taxis and opened fire outside the main entrance, as well as in the departures hall. Police then responded to the shooting and the attackers detonated their bombs in three different spots around 10 pm local time.

Atatürk airport is one of the most active airports in Europe with 61.3 billion passengers passing through in 2015. Among the killed who have been identified, 23 are Turks and 13 are from foreign countries.

An eyewitness who came out unharmed told Reuters how one of the men was walking around shooting randomly in the departures hall.

“He was wearing all black. His face was not masked … We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting […] He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator … We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.”

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials believe the Islamic State is behind it. This attack has many similarities to the airport attacks in Brussels earlier this year. Turkey shares a border with Syria and has been experienced several bombings and terror attacks conducted by ISIS so far this year.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a united fight against terrorism. He said in a statement, “If states, as all humanity, fail to join forces and wage a joint fight against terrorist organizations, all the possibilities that we dread in our minds will come true one by one.” He also spoke with President Obama who said he strongly condemned the suicide attack in a phone call.

CCTV footage that has been circling on social media shows one of the bomb blasts:

The flags at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels were at half-mast on Wednesday.

Istanbul made an effort to not give in to terrorism. The airport is back up and running less than 24 hours after the bombing.

Emma Von Zeipel
Emma Von Zeipel
Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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