says ISIL believed to be behind
suicide attacks at Ataturk
Airport.
At least 36 people have been killed
and nearly 150 others injured
following explosions at Istanbul's
main international airport, Turkish
officials say.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali
Yildirim said three suicide bombers
were involved in the attack at Ataturk
Airport late on Tuesday evening.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility, but Yildirim said there
was indication that the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group
carried out the bombings.
He said efforts to identify the
attackers, who arrived to the airport
in a taxi, were continuing.
The attackers opened fire at airport
guards at the terminal entrance and
a shootout erupted before they blew
themselves up one by one at around
10pm, authorities said.
Security camera footage 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.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan called for a 'joint fight'
against terror after the attack [EPA]
Most of the casualties were Turkish
citizens, a senior government official
said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
called for a "joint fight" against terror
after the attack.
"If states, as all humanity, fail to join
forces and wage a joint fight against
terrorist organisations, all the
possibilities that we dread in our
minds will come true one by one," he
said in a statement.
"It is clear that this attack is not
aimed at achieving any result but
only to create propaganda material
against our country using simply the
blood and pain of innocent people."
One of the attackers "randomly
opened fire" as he walked through the
terminal building, shortly before
three explosions, a witness told
Reuters.
"We came right to international
departures and saw the man
randomly shooting. He was just firing
at anyone coming in front of him. He
was wearing all black. His face was
not masked. I was 50 metres away
from him," said Paul Roos, 77, a South
African tourist on his way back to
Cape Town with his wife.
"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," Roos said.
"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."
Ataturk Airport is one of the busiest
ports in the world, serving more than
60 million passengers in 2015.
There has been a string of bombings
around Turkey over the past year,
some of them blamed on ISIL, others
claimed by Kurdish groups.
Earlier in June, at least 11 people
were killed in central Istanbul
following a bombing attack targeting
a police vehicle. The armed group
Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, also
known by its Kurdish-language
acronym TAK, claimed responsibility
for that attack.
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