41 dead in Istanbul airport attacks, Turkey blames IS

Istanbul / AFP

Turkey on Wednesday pointed the finger of blame at IS extremists after a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul’s main international airport killed at least 41 people, including foreigners.
Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic on Tuesday evening as the attackers opened fire and then blew themselves up at the entrance to the international arrivals terminal at Ataturk airport, one of Europe’s busiest hubs.
The assault, at the start of Turkey’s crucial summer tourist season, was the deadliest of four attacks to rock the country’s biggest city this year. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s carnage but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said “the evidence points to IS.”
Yildirim told reporters at the scene that the dead included foreigners. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag put the number of wounded at 147.
The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport, but operations were resuming on Wednesday with some delays.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an international “joint fight” against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the “heinous” attack. Yildirim said the three suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.
Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.
Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground—apparently felled by a police bullet—and blowing himself up.
Tuesday’s attack follows coordinated IS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.

‘I can’t find my sister’
An AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which suffered considerable damage but was being repaired on Wednesday.
Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.
Hundreds of police and firefighters including forensic officers were at the scene.
“Somebody came and shot at us and then my sister ran,” Otfah Mohamed Abdullah said. “I don’t know which way she ran and after that I fell down. I was on the ground till he (the gunman) stopped… I can’t find my sister.”
“Everybody started running in different directions when the shooting started. I hid under the counter where I was standing and a couple of the ground staff did the same,” South African university administrator Judy Favish told eNCA television in her home country.
Favish said she and other travellers were ushered to the basement before emerging about two hours later.
“We walked through the airport and saw debris and blood. It was just chaos. It was horrible.”
There was chaos at the nearest hospital in Istanbul’s Bakirkoy district, which was inundated with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.

Putin and Erdogan hold first phone talk since jet downing 

Moscow / AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday held their first phone call since Ankara downed one of Moscow’s jets in Syria last year, both sides said.
The two leaders spoke as they sought to mend ties over the November incident that saw Moscow slap sanctions on Ankara. “The president’s phone call with president Putin has just ended,” a Turkish official told reporters in Ankara. “The two leaders had a very productive and positive conversation. A written statement will be made shortly.”
The Kremlin confirmed that the conversation was taking place.
It also said that Putin, at an event with schoolchildren in Moscow earlier on Wednesday, also expressed his sympathy over a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport that killed at least 36 people.
“President Putin expressed condolences to the Turkish people over the monstrous terrorist attack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The breakthrough phone call came after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to Putin that Moscow said contained an apology.
The downing of the plane in November shattered ties between the two nations and saw Moscow slap an embargo on Turkish food products and ban charter flights and the sale of package tours to the country.