17 more charged over Istanbul airport attack

A Turkish official said 13 nationalities as well as Turks were killed in the airport attack in Istanbul last Tuesday, including tourists from Iraq, China, Jordan and Tunisia.

“Over the past many years, the Russian side… has informed our Turkish and European colleagues that persons suspected of being linked to terrorism… find shelter both in Turkey and in a number of other European countries”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The suspects, 11 of them foreigners, were expected in court after being questioned by the police, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The report did not specify if the pair were leaving Turkey, or arriving.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visits Istanbul’s Ataturk airport to pay his respects to the victims of the triple suicide bombings.

As ISIS attacked this modern airport, which is the third to be targeted in Europe, with nonwestern people killed, the extremist group proved for Istanbul residents, whose population amounts up to 15 million, that it can hit any place even the city that is considered Turkey’s center of attraction.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkish officials say they believe it was the work of the Islamic State group.

Dogan said the two suspects held late Sunday were Kyrgyz nationals, identifying them only by their initials, K.V and F.M.I, aged 25 and 35 respectively.

A Turkish special force police officer stands guard as a stewardess walks nearby the explosion site at the Ataturk airport. The CIA and White House declined to comment on McCaul’s assertion and officials said the investigation into the airport bombings is still ongoing.

One of them, identified as a Russian citizen named as Smail A., said he stayed in a crowded house where he thought he would be able to read the Koran.

So far 45 people have died following the attack on Tuesday night, which saw the three men walk into the airport and open fire before blowing themselves up.

President Erdoğan sent a letter to Putin to express his regrets about the downing of the Russian warplane and expressed condolences to the family of the Russian pilot who was shot dead in the incident. Other media reports have given different versions of Osmanov’s name.