Terrorist attack on Istanbul Airport leaves 41 dead

Two explosions hit Istanbul’s main global airport on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding several more, Turkish officials said, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of attacks in Turkey’s biggest city this year. Yildirim also said that it appears the attackers had arrived by taxi.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

Another official said two attackers had detonated explosives at the entrance of the worldwide terminal after police fired at them.

A Turkish official said authorities are going through CCTV footage and witness statements to establish a preliminary timeline and details of the attack.

The Haber Turk newspaper reported that one attacker blew himself up outside the terminal, then two others opened fire at the point where the X-ray machines are. The third attacker then blew himself up after being shot by police up one level to the worldwide departures terminal. The airport partially reopened, but an information board inside showed that about one-third of scheduled flights had been canceled, with a host of others delayed.

The airport, which is the third busiest in Europe in terms of passenger traffic, has always been seen as a vulnerable target, according to the BBC’s Turkey correspondent.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bloodshed at the airport – one of the busiest in the world, handling more than 60 million passengers each year.

“The South Korean Consulate General in Istanbul was informed from the office of the Istanbul mayor and the anti-terrorism bureau of the Istanbul police agency that there are no South Korean victims”, the ministry said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol. Just one day ago, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to U.S. citizens, citing “increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey”.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has condemned the terror attacks in Istanbul.

Another video posted to Twitter suggests security personnel shot an armed attacker as he ran around a corner in the airport.

Port Authority officials said they were continuing to monitor the situation in Turkey alongside federal and local officials, including the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Meanwhile, the U.S. President Barack Obama was also briefed on the attack. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those whose loved ones have been killed, and with the Turkish people.

“We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stance against terrorism”, he said. There are about 350,000 Turkish Americans in the United States, the biggest population is located in the Tri-State area.